Many people who suffer a traumatic brain injury struggle with sleep problems they may not be aware of, Swiss researchers report. These patients also can suffer daytime sleepiness for as long as 18 months after their injury, the small study found. And these sleep problems may adversely affect daytime performance at work or school, the researchers said. "Sleep-wake disorders are highly prevalent after traumatic brain injury of any severity but are difficult to diagnose because many affected patients are unaware of their disorder," said lead researcher Dr. Lukas Imbach. It's not known why sleep problems in traumatic brain injury patients are underestimated, he said. Every year in the United States, 1.7 million people suffer a traumatic brain injury, and evidence suggests that number is rising worldwide, the researchers said. Sleep problems are known to be related to mood changes and depression, and also to learning and memory difficulties, said Imbach, who's with the department of neurology at University Hospital Zurich. "A link between these neuropsychiatric problems and sleep disturbances after traumatic brain injury is absolutely possible, although our study did not test this hypothesis," he noted. This study provides evidence that sleep-wake disturbances after traumatic brain injury persist over a long period of time, Imbach said, but they are neglected by the majority of affected patients. "Therefore, we believe that our observations are important for any clinicians and neurologists involved in the management of [brain] trauma patients," he said. The report was published April 27 in the journal Neurology. For the study, Imbach and his colleagues followed 31 people for 18 months who had experienced a first traumatic brain injury. Their injuries ranged from mild to severe. The researchers compared these patients with 42 healthy people.
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