title: Neuropsychological Function in Patients With Acute Tetraplegia and Sleep Disordered Breathing.
abstract: To investigate the relationship between apnea severity and neuropsychological function in patients with acute-onset tetraplegia and sleep disordered breathing.
  
  
  
  Polysomnography and neuropsychological testing were performed on 104 participants (age M = 45.60, SD = 16.38; 10 female) across 11 international sites, 2 months postinjury (M = 60.70 days, SD = 39.48). Neuropsychological tests assessed attention, information processing, executive function, memory, learning, mood, and quality of life.
  
  
  
  More severe sleep apnea was associated with poorer attention, information processing, and immediate recall. Deficits did not extend to memory. Higher preinjury intelligence and being younger reduced the associations with sleep disordered breathing; however, these protective factors were insufficient to counter the damage to attention, immediate recall, and information processing associated with sleep disordered breathing.
  
  
  
  These data suggest that new spinal cord injury may function as a model of "acute sleep apnea" and that more widespread sleep apnea-related deficits, including memory, may only be seen with longer exposure to apnea. These findings have important implications for functioning and skill acquisition during rehabilitation and, as such, highlight the importance of sleep health following tetraplegia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.|Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.|COSAQ multinational collaborative research group.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schembri
authors.affiliation: Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.|COSAQ multinational collaborative research group.|La Trobe Rural Health School. College of Science, Health and Engineering. La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia.
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Spong
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.|Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.|COSAQ multinational collaborative research group.
authors.forename: Marnie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Graco
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.|Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.|COSAQ multinational collaborative research group.
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Berlowitz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017286:Polysomnography; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attention; cognition; information processing.; quadriplegia; sleep apnoea; spinal cord injury