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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Controlled Cortical Impact Model for Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: August 5, 2014
Mortality and Associated Morbidities Following Traumatic Brain Injury in Older Medicare Statin Users
Bilal Khokhar1, Linda Simoni-Wastila, Julia F Slejko
1General Dynamics Information Technology, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Fairfax, Virginia (Dr Khokhar); Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Baltimore (Drs Slejko, Perfetto, and Simoni-Wastila); National Health Council, Washington, District of Columbia (Dr Perfetto); Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore (Dr Zhan and Mr Smith); and West Virginia University School of Public Health, Morgantown (Mr Smith).
Objective:
To assess the relationship between posttraumatic brain injury statin use and (1) mortality and (2) the incidence of associated morbidities, including stroke, depression, and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias following injury.
Setting And Participants:
Nested cohort of all Medicare beneficiaries 65 years of age and older who survived a traumatic brain injury (TBI) hospitalization during 2006 through 2010. The final sample comprised 100 515 beneficiaries.
Design:
Retrospective cohort study of older Medicare beneficiaries. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were obtained using discrete time analysis and generalized estimating equations.
Measures:
The exposure of interest included monthly atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin, rosuvastatin, and simvastatin use. Outcomes of interest included mortality, stroke, depression, and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Results:
Statin use of any kind was associated with decreased mortality following TBI hospitalization discharge. Any statin use was also associated with a decrease in any stroke (RR, 0.86; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 0.81-0.91), depression (RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.79-0.90), and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (RR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.73-0.81).
Conclusion:
These findings provide valuable information for clinicians treating older adults with TBI as clinicians can consider, when appropriate, atorvastatin and simvastatin to older adults with TBI in order to decrease mortality and associated morbidities.
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