Brief report: parental report of sleep behaviors following moderate or severe pediatric traumatic brain injury.
OBJECTIVE
Determine the effect of moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) on the sleep of school-aged children.


METHODS
A concurrent cohort-prospective design compared children aged 6-12 years who sustained moderate TBI (baseline n = 56), severe TBI (n = 53), or only orthopedic injuries (n = 80). Retrospective parental report of pre-injury sleep was collected about 3 weeks post-injury. Post-injury assessments occurred prospectively a mean of 6, 12, and 48 months later.


RESULTS
Growth curve analyses compared the groups over time. The moderate TBI group had worse pre-injury sleep than the other groups. The moderate TBI and orthopedic injury groups displayed a small decline in sleep problems from pre- to post-injury. Children with severe TBI displayed increased post-injury sleep problems.


CONCLUSIONS
Children who sustain severe TBI are at elevated risk for post-injury sleep problems. Because sleep problems may result in daytime impairments and family distress, additional clinical and research attention is warranted.
Beebe
Dean W
DW
Division of Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA. dean.beebe@cchmc.org
Krivitzky
Lauren
L
Wells
Carolyn T
CT
Wade
Shari L
SL
Taylor
H Gerry
HG
Yeates
Keith Owen
KO
D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013997:Time Factors