Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Treat Sleep Disturbance and Fatigue After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Context: Sleep impairment after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a common consequence of the injury and frequently complicates recovery. To review in brief the current knowledge in regard to sleep impairment following traumatic brain injury. Evidence Acquisition: The relevant literature was reviewed. Results: Practical issues in regard to epidemiology, clinical presentation, medical workup, as well as pathophysiology and treatment modes were addressed. Conclusion: As the spectrum of civil head and brain trauma is quickly expanding, it is important to increase our knowledge of sleep impairment characteristics in victims of TBI and look for more efficient treatment modes for those impairments than those used today.

Purpose of review This paper focuses on the sleep disorders in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI/D), particularly mechanism of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and challenges in diagnosis and management. Based on a review of recent literatures and studies the paper summarizes some main challenges with respect to management of SDB in patients with SCI; and what are the responsible mechanisms of disease? What are the barriers in diagnosing and treating SDB using standard treatment such as positive airway pressure (CPAP)?. Recent findings Previous studies have shown that most SCI/D patients have SDB with heterogeneity in prevalence mainly related to using different definition or methods of diagnosing SDB, while recent studies using new definition of SDB based on recommended criteria from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and also include the data on effect of SCI/D level on prevalence and describe different type of SDB. Furthermore, recent data describes simplified method of diagnosing SDB by using a combination of home sleep apnea testing and transcutaneous CO2 monitoring. Finally, emerging data has been pointing at strong relationship between SDB and cardiovascular disease including nocturnal hypertension in patients with SCI/D. Summary The findings indicate that early testing for SDB and associated cardiovascular disease in patients with SCI is recommended and could be beneficial in reduced the high morbidity and mortality in this group of patients with disability. In addition, studies on treatment of other sleep disorders in SCI/D are not available to inform clinical decision making. Understanding the pathophysiology of sleep disorders in SCI/D is critical for the development of new effective therapies. This review provides evidence for best practices; highlights new discoveries for the diagnosis and management of sleep disorders in SCI/D, and discuss challenges and future directions.

Background: Up to a third of stroke patients and patients with traumatic brain injury suffer from insomnia, including problems to fall asleep or stay asleep at night. Insomnia may exacerbate other brain damage-related problems, for example regarding cognitive functioning and emotional well-being, may lead to poorer quality of life, and may complicate recovery processes. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, delivered face-to-face or online, is found to be effective in the general population. However, despite the high prevalence and serious consequences of insomnia following acquired brain injury, studies on the efficacy of face-to-face cognitive behavioural treatment in this population are scarce, and this applies even more for studies on online cognitive behavioural therapy. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a newly developed guided online cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia following acquired brain injury.Methods: A multicenter randomized controlled trial will be conducted, in which 48 patients diagnosed with stroke or traumatic brain injury, and insomnia will be randomly allocated to the online cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia treatment group or the treatment as usual group. The treatment consists of 6 online cognitive behavioural therapy sessions given on a weekly basis and personalized feedback after each session, combined with 2 face-to-face sessions. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention period and at 6 weeks follow up. The primary outcome is the insomnia severity assessed with the insomnia severity index. Secondary outcome measures include sleep quality, sleep features derived from the sleep diary, fatigue, anxiety and depression, subjective cognitive functioning and societal participation.Discussion: This study will provide insight on the efficacy of online cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia following stroke and traumatic brain injury.Trial Register: Netherlands Trial Register, NTR7082, 12 March 2018