Long-lasting sleep patterns of adult patients with minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and non-mTBI subjects

Schreiber, Shaul; Barkai, Gabriel; Gur-Hartman, Tamar; Peles, Einat; Tov, Naveh; Dolberg, Ornah T.; Pick, Chaim G.

doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2007.04.014

« Previous Next »Sleep Medicine
Volume 9, Issue 5 , Pages 481-487, July 2008

Long-lasting sleep patterns of adult patients with minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and non-mTBI subjects

Shaul Schreiber
- Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
- The Neuropsychological Unit for Treatment and Rehabilitation, Tel Aviv & Jerusalem, Israel
- At the time of the study, SS and OTD were with the Neuropsychological Unit and NT was with the Sleep Laboratory, Rambam Medical Center and Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel.
- Corresponding author. Address: Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel. Fax: +972 3 697 4586.
Gabriel Barkai
- Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
- The Neuropsychological Unit for Treatment and Rehabilitation, Tel Aviv & Jerusalem, Israel
Tamar Gur-Hartman
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel
Einat Peles
- Dr. Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse, Treatment & Research, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Israel
Naveh Tov
- Department of Internal Medicine C, Bnai-Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel
- At the time of the study, SS and OTD were with the Neuropsychological Unit and NT was with the Sleep Laboratory, Rambam Medical Center and Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel.
Ornah T. Dolberg
- Department of Psychiatry, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv 64239, Israel
- The Neuropsychological Unit for Treatment and Rehabilitation, Tel Aviv & Jerusalem, Israel
- At the time of the study, SS and OTD were with the Neuropsychological Unit and NT was with the Sleep Laboratory, Rambam Medical Center and Technion - IIT, Haifa, Israel.
Chaim G. Pick
- Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Tel Aviv University Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv, Israel

Received 6 October 2006; received in revised form 16 April 2007; accepted 23 April 2007.

Abstract

Background

Sleep disturbance is a common subjective complaint of minor traumatic brain-injured (mTBI) patients, but little is known about the characteristics of sleep disturbance in adults years after the injury.

Methods

Polysomnographic (PSG) and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) records of 26 mTBI adult patients with normal brain computerized tomography and negative encephalographic studies, no past history of CNS pathology, no premorbid or present major psychiatric diagnosis, and no sleep apnea syndrome were compared to a matched group of apparently healthy individuals (controls).

Results

Sleep patterns were disturbed in the mTBI patients. Their sleep architecture was altered, with significantly higher light-sleep non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stage 2 scores compared to controls (54.5±13.4% vs. 46.6±10.4%, respectively, p=0.03) and significantly lower REM sleep scores (21.2±8.4% vs. 25.4±4.5%, respectively, p=0.05). The MSLT findings documented significant excessive daytime episodes of falling asleep.

Conclusions

Sleep disturbances of adult patients with chronic mTBI may manifest characteristic alterations in both timing and architecture of their sleep patterns. Sleep lab evaluations may help identify subgroups of mTBI patients who would probably benefit from treatment.

Keywords: Adults, Minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI), Multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), Polysomnography (PSG)