The Risk of Sleep Disorder Among Persons with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Sleep disorders and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are among the most commonly occurring neurological problems clinicians encounter simultaneously. Each can cause the other, and both share common predisposing factors. An important question that remains to be addressed is whether high-risk groups can be defined. We observed an accumulation of considerable knowledge on sleep dysfunction in mTBI in recently published works. The results highlight sleep disturbances in mTBI as the product of diverse internal and external influences, acting on a genetically determined substrate. This may partially explain the clinical heterogeneity of mTBI, pointing to the importance of establishing an accurate history on the onset and course of a specific sleep disorder in the early stages post-mTBI in the individual patient. Such an approach will aid not only diagnosis and treatment but may also lead to identification of disorders whose symptoms mimic those of TBI and thereby direct the most suitable treatment and management.