Media reports and studies concerning traumatic brain injury continue to stream out unabated, with dire conclusions from researchers in one study seemingly following others without break.

We recently noted, for example, the Loyola University Medical Center study on retired pro football players and head trauma (July 21), which concludes that many ex players have material cognitive problems that are often seen only in people who are much older.

A tandem story to that is the lawsuit recently filed against the NFL by 75 former players who say they are suffering ongoing mental problems from the hits they sustained during their careers. They allege that the league, while knowing about the severity and repercussions of head trauma for decades, has withheld relevant information.

And now a new study is reporting that military veterans who have suffered brain injuries such as concussions and skull fractures are twice as likely as vets who are head-trauma free to be diagnosed with dementia later in life.

The military study is deeply troubling to many trauma experts, given the high incidence of brain trauma seen in vets returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of those soldiers suffer from head injuries sustained in encounters with improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades, something not routinely experienced in previous conflicts.

Spokespersons from the armed forces say that the military is becoming progressively better at shielding its service members from injuries and treating them quickly once a head injury is identified.

That assessment is not without critics, one of them being the Government Accountability Office ("GAO"). The GAO charges that the military's diagnosis and treatment of head injuries is sufficiently "dysfunctional" that it requires outside assistance to help with the problem.

Related Resource: The Week, "Veterans' brain injuries: Worse than the NFL?" July 21, 2011