Silent epidemic? Head injury may be linked to lasting sleep problems

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/aaon-seh042116.php

Public Release: 27-Apr-2016
Silent epidemic? Head injury may be linked to lasting sleep problems
American Academy of Neurology

People who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) may still have sleep problems a year and a half after being injured, according to a study published in the April 27, 2016, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. In addition, people with TBI may also be unaware of just how much their sleep is disturbed.

Every year in the United States, 1.7 million people experience a TBI and there is evidence that the rate of TBI is rising worldwide.

"This is the longest prospective and most comprehensive study about sleep quality and TBI to date," said study author Lukas Imbach, MD, of the University Hospital Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland. "We found that the majority of those with TBI, no matter how severe, had long-term sleep disturbances, yet didn't know."

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