Scientists have found a potential link between a single head injury and dementia.

The study by scientists in Scotland and America found large numbers of proteins in the brain of some of those hurt which are typical of those seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Brain tissue from 39 people who had recovered from a brain injury and 47 people who had never had a brain injury were examined after their deaths. All of the people were from the west of Scotland.

Scientists found the large number of proteins, which they referred to as “abnormalities”, in a third of those who had a head injury.

The research was carried out by a team at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.