A traumatic brain injury, even a mild concussion, increases the risk for Parkinson’s disease, a study reports. Researchers identified patients in a Veterans Health Administration database who had a traumatic brain injury — 162,935 men and women — and matched them with the same number of people with similar health and behavioral characteristics but who had not had a brain injury. The study is in Neurology.

Of the cases, half were mild, involving a blow to the head with some symptoms but with little or no unconsciousness. The rest were moderate to severe, involving extended unconsciousness or long-term symptoms.

They found that compared with those who had had no traumatic brain injury, those with a mild case had a 56 percent increased risk for Parkinson’s disease; those with moderate to severe case had an 83 percent increased risk.

MARRIED COUPLES LESS LIKELY TO DIE FROM MELANOMA

Married people are more likely than the unmarried to get timely diagnosis and treatment for malignant skin cancer.

Early detection of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is essential to effective treatment. A study published in JAMA Dermatology cataloged tumor stage and marital status in 52,063 patients with melanoma.

The average age was 64, with 58.8 percent male. Almost 70 percent were married.

The researchers found that 46 percent of married people went to a doctor at the earliest stage of the disease, compared with 43 percent of the never married, 39 percent of the divorced and 32 percent of the widowed.

Patients who were never married were 12 percent more likely to present with a later-stage cancer, the divorced 34 percent more likely and the widowed more than twice as likely.

Results were the same for men and women.

© 2018 The New York Times Company