Study: Consider sex differences in treatment for TBI-related sleep disorders
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Clinicians should consider biological sex when developing therapeutic strategies for military personnel with chronic sleep disorders caused by mild traumatic brain injury, according to a poster at the SLEEP meeting.
Vivian A. Guedes, PhD, of the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and colleagues wrote in their poster that sleep disorders are common in military personnel and are often related to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The researchers sought to determine biological sex differences in self-reported quality of sleep and blood levels of protein biomarkers in this population.
Of 1,121 participants in the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium/Long-Term Impact of Military Brain Injury Consortium study, 147 women and 974 men were split into two groups: those with no mTBI history (n = 192) and those with history of mTBI (n = 929). Researchers used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess self-reported sleep quality and analyzed plasma levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light chain, tau, interleukin (IL)-10, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha.
The researchers found that, in general, women had higher PSQI scores than men, as did the mTBI group compared with controls. Women in the mTBI group had higher PSQI scores (P = 0.031) and GFAP levels (P < 0.001) than men in that group.
“The biggest takeaway is there are indeed differences between males and females,” study co-author Sara Mithani, PhD, RN, also of UT Health, told Healio.
Further, Mithani added, women are not as well-represented as they should be in such studies.
“There should really be a focus on sex differences in sleep, with mTBI as a secondary outcome,” she said. “There needs to be an emphasis on recruiting women who may fall through the cracks; we’ll have better insight. Military personnel are particularly vulnerable to sleep disturbances, which can have residual effects well after the period of service is over.”