A medical, legal, and
informational resource
for persons dealing with
traumatic brain injury.

TBI AND SLEEP DISORDERS

One of the very significant problems arising from TBI is that the biological rhythm of sleep is disrupted. A majority of victims of TBI express difficulty in sleeping, altered sleep pattern or need to sleep an unusually long amount following injury.

A recent study published in Chest (Castriotta, RJ 2005) found that almost half of the TBI population can be expected to have a sleep disorder, with obstructive sleep apnea being the leading cause. A meta-analysis (Orff, HJ, et al 2009) found that following TBI, especially mild TBI, there are frequent complaints of sleep disturbance. They found that sleep disturbance complicates recovery and the resolution of symptoms. They noted “research now seems to indicate that mild TBI may be more correlated with increased likelihood of sleep disturbance than are severe forms of TBI.”A study from 2008 (Makley, MJ, et al) found that 68% of TBI patients had disturbances of night time sleep. There was no relationship between the severity of initial injury and the prevalence of sleep disorder. People suffering from Sleep Awake Cycle Disturbance (SWCD) have longer stays in both acute and rehabilitative settings and this may be a marker for more severe injury.

The problem with sleep deprivation is that it causes a decrease in cognitive ability, and increase in irritability and in many other ways can give symptoms similar to those from TBI itself. If those TBI symptoms are already present it can tend to aggravate them. Therefore, patients who suspect problems in sleep need to get those problems addressed by referral to a specialist. This type of disorder needs to be determined and then a treatment plan enacted.

Lack of sleep is known to depress scores of neuropsychological tests batteries. Thus, someone in the grips of a terrible sleep pattern is going to show having possibly more severe cognitive deficits than they actually have. Therefore, it is important to note to treating physicians and experts that one is sleeping poorly so that can be factored in to the diagnosis and treatment. Sleep depravation effects on other common psychological disturbances from TBI including depression and anxiety are known as well.