How head injuries affect Parkinson's over time
Official title: Traumatic Brain Injury in Parkinson’s Disease: A Longitudinal Study
Funded at Veterans Health Administration · NIH-11471961 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers will follow people with Parkinson's disease to learn how past mild-to-moderate head injuries relate to thinking, mood, movement, brain changes, and quality of life.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Veterans Health Administration NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Gainesville, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2020 |
| Project end | September 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I01CX001925-06 |
| Project ID | NIH-11471961 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease — including those with a history of mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury and those without — who can attend clinic visits, testing, and imaging at the study site.
✕Less likely to help
People without Parkinson's, those unable to travel to the study site or tolerate testing/imaging, or those whose injuries are outside the study's mild-to-moderate range may not benefit from participating.
What this research studies
You would join a multi-year follow-up of people with Parkinson's to compare those with and without past mild-to-moderate head injuries. Participants complete standardized cognitive and mood tests, motor exams, questionnaires about daily life, and brain imaging and biomarker sampling. The team will track changes over time to link past head injury history with later symptoms and brain changes. Findings aim to clarify why some people with Parkinson's decline faster and which brain measures relate to those changes.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify people with Parkinson's who are at higher risk for faster decline so clinicians can tailor monitoring and care.
How similar studies have gone: Smaller and preliminary studies, including work from this team, have found links between past TBI and worse cognition, mood, motor function, and brain volume in Parkinson's, but larger longitudinal confirmation is still needed.
Where this research is happening
-
Veterans Health Administration
Gainesville, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Schiehser, Dawn M. — Veterans Health Administration
- Study coordinator: Schiehser, Dawn M.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.