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Sleep problems and their relationship to cognitive and behavioral outcomes in young children with traumatic brain

Nicole Shay1, Keith O Yeates, Nicolay C Walz

  • 11 Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University , Providence, Rhode Island.

Journal of Neurotrauma
|March 27, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Young children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) experience more sleep problems, which are linked to worse psychosocial outcomes but not cognitive deficits. These sleep issues impact behavior and daily functioning over time.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neuropsychology
  • Child Psychology
  • Sleep Medicine

Background:

  • Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children can impact development.
  • Sleep disturbances are common after TBI but their long-term effects on functioning are not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine sleep problems in young children after TBI.
  • To investigate the relationship between sleep problems and neuropsychological/psychosocial functioning post-TBI.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study of children aged 3-6 years with orthopedic injury (OI), mild/moderate TBI (mTBI), or severe TBI (sTBI).
  • Caregiver questionnaires (Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, behavioral, adaptive, executive function ratings) and child neuropsychological testing at multiple time points post-injury.

Main Results:

  • Children with complicated mTBI and sTBI showed more sleep problems than OI controls at various time points.
  • Sleep problems predicted increased emotional/behavioral issues and poorer everyday executive function.
  • Sleep problems were not significantly associated with neuropsychological test performance.

Conclusions:

  • Young children with TBI exhibit more sleep disturbances compared to non-TBI injured peers.
  • Sleep problems are a significant risk factor for adverse psychosocial outcomes in pediatric TBI.
  • Sleep disturbances after TBI do not appear to impact cognitive test performance in this age group.

Keywords:
behaviorcognitive abilitypreschoolsleeptraumatic brain injury

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