Sleep Disturbances and Cognition, Behavior, and Brain Structure in Children With mTBI

Is pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) associated with sleep disturbances and increased risk of poor behavioral, cognitive, and brain structural outcomes compared with typically developing children and orthopedic injury controls?In this cohort study of 573 children, the 191 children with mTBI had significantly higher total sleep disturbance scores than the 191 typically developing children, but not compared with the 191 children in the orthopedic injury control group. Of all examined outcomes, behavioral problems were most consistently associated with sleep disturbances, especially those developing only after injury.These findings suggest that newly emerging sleep disturbances after mTBI may be a modifiable risk factor for behavioral problems and a potential target for early intervention in pediatric brain injury recovery.

Corresponding Author: Anja K. Betz, MSc, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Nußbaumstr. 5, 80336 Munich (anja.betz@med.uni-muenchen.de).

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