Edith N. Botchway
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia
Title: Sleep Disturbances in Young Adults who Sustained Traumatic Brain Injury in Childhood: Relationship with Fatigue, Depression, and Quality of Life
Biography:
Dr. Edith Botchway is a passionate paediatric neuropsychology researcher, interested in answering critical research questions on cognitive, behavioural, and sleep outcomes in children with neurodevelopmental conditions using methods such as functional and structural MRI, actigraphy, and EEG. She completed her PhD with the University of Melbourne in September this year, where she explored sleep, fatigue, depression and quality of life outcomes in young adults who sustained traumatic brain injury in childhood. She then worked on an industry-funded project aimed at understanding rehabilitation models of care used in survivors of childhood traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. Dr Botchway is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Cognitive Neuroscience Unit at Deakin University, Australia, and holds honorary research positions at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (Australia) and Aston University in the UK.
Abstract:
Objective: To evaluate sleep, fatigue, depression, and quality of life (QoL) outcomes and assess the relationships among these factors in young adults who sustained TBI in childhood.
Methodology: We recruited 54 young adults with mild (n = 14), moderate (n = 27), and severe (n = 13) TBI, and 13 typically developing control (TDC) participants as part of a 20-year follow-up of a longitudinal prospective study. Sleep was assessed subjectively with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and objectively using actigraphy sleep efficiency.
Results: At 20 years postinjury, no significant relationship was identified between subjective sleep quality and history of childhood TBI, however, subjective sleep quality was significantly poorer in moderate TBI compared to severe TBI participants. Objective sleep disturbance, fatigue, depression, and QoL outcomes were also not significantly different between TBI and TDC or among TBI severity groups. Poor subjective sleep quality in the TBI group was also associated with increased symptoms of fatigue and depression and reduced general health.
Conclusions: These preliminary findings indicate that while the majority of young adults with childhood TBI present with similar sleep, fatigue, depression, and QoL outcomes as their typically developing peers, some of them may be at an increased risk of poor outcomes in these domains. In addition, poor sleep outcomes in these young adults with childhood TBI may be associated with an increased risk of fatigue, depression, and reduced general health.