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Ralph G. DePalma Memorial TBI Clinical Strategies

Poor Sleep Correlates with Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: a LIMBIC-CENC Study


by Kimbra Kenney, MD ; Kent Werner, MD, PhD
Seminar date: 5/4/2021

Description: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and sleep disorders are each independently associated with neurodegeneration, but longitudinal TBI studies measuring the incidence of dementia have not considered potential neurodegenerative effects of co-morbid sleep dysfunction. We collected sleep quality scores, plasma biomarkers of neurodegeneration and cognitive scores in 182 CENC longitudinal study participants enrolled 2–15 years after TBI and found that sleep quality correlates with plasma levels of neurofilament light and tau as well as two independent measures of cognitive ability, suggesting a novel, treatable pathomechanism of TBI-associated cognitive dysfunction/dementia.

Intended audience:Healthcare providers who care for patients with remote mTBI with co-morbid sleep dysfunction, and neuroscientists studying remote effects of TBI and sleep on cognition.

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DOWNLOAD: PDF handout | Audio only (mp3) | transcript


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