Managing Sleep Disorder Comorbidities to Enhance Brain Injury Outcome

Presenter:

• Risa Nakase-Richardson
• Daniel Schwartz
• Kathleen Bell
• Marc Silva
• Jennifer Bogner

Objectives:

• Discuss the contribution of sleep disorders in TBI-related burden.
• Describe the indications for objective measures of sleep and how they are interpreted for clinical management
• Discuss American Academy of Sleep Medicine endorsed guidelines for management of sleep apnea and circadian disorders and the state of the science in TBI populations.

Description:

To date, no treatment exists to ameliorate the adverse consequences of TBI. TBI-related comorbidities including sleep disorders are linked to poor cognitive and functional outcomes. Indeed, animal studies show that disorders sleep hinders early neurologic repair and epidemiologic studies show association with early cognitive decline and mortality. Improving comorbidity burden in rehabilitation settings has been associated with better health and economic outcomes. However, sleep disorder screening and evaluation are not routinely performed in TBI-care settings. Therefore, the purpose of this course is to provide an overview of implementing sleep disorder screening and diagnostic tools for sleep apnea and circadian disorders in rehabilitation settings. Presentations will include a broad overview of sleep and TBI, introduction and hands on demonstration of objective sleep measurement (actigraphy, polysomnography) and reporting, review of evidence-based treatment, case illustrations, and future directions of research. The course presenters represent diverse specialties including sleep medicine, rehabilitation, and psychology.