Understanding Sleep Dysfunction after Traumatic Brain Injury

Purpose of ReviewThis paper aims to review the prevalence, pathophysiology, outcomes, evaluation, and management of sleep dysfunction after traumatic brain injury (TBI).Recent FindingsRecent research has focused on the prevalence and effects of sleep disturbance in various age groups after TBI, the correlation of subjective complaints to objective sleep measurement, the use of actigraphy to monitor sleep in those with TBI, updates to our understanding of pathophysiology of sleep dysfunction across the spectrum of severity of TBI, and newly identified associations with sleep and outcomes.SummaryProviders should continue to recognize and treat sleep dysfunction after TBI given its influence on recovery and function. We should be aware that subjective and objective measurements of sleep may not correlate and that actigraph-inferred sleep data should be interpreted with caution. Ongoing research will continue to inform our understanding of the evaluation and management of sleep dysfunction after TBI.