Systematic Review of Sex and Gender Effects in Traumatic Brain Injury: Equity in Clinical and Functional Outcomes.

Although traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in male and female patients worldwide, little is known about the effect of sex and gender on TBI outcomes. This systematic review summarizes the evidence on the effect of sex and gender on core TBI outcomes. All English-language studies from six literature databases that addressed core outcomes in adults with TBI and included sex or gender, TBI severity, and age in their analyses were considered eligible.

Interventions and cognitive functioning in adults with traumatic spinal cord injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Aim: This research synthesized scientific evidence on the impact of interventions for adults with traumatic spinal cord injury on cognition, to understand if current intervention approaches are appropriate in light of the risk of post-injury cognitive impairments.

Method: Medline, Central, Embase, Scopus, PsycINFO and PubMed were searched for intervention in persons with SCI assessing cognition pre- and post-intervention. Study quality was completed using the National Institutes of Health quality assessment tools.

Measuring Change Over Time: A Systematic Review of Evaluative Measures of Cognitive Functioning in Traumatic Brain Injury.

The purpose of evaluative instruments is to measure the magnitude of change in a construct of interest over time. The measurement properties of these instruments, as they relate to the instrument's ability to fulfill its purpose, determine the degree of certainty with which the results yielded can be viewed. This work systematically reviews all instruments that have been used to evaluate cognitive functioning in persons with traumatic brain injury (TBI), and critically assesses their evaluative measurement properties: construct validity, test-retest reliability, and responsiveness.

A gender-transformative approach to improve outcomes and equity among persons with traumatic brain injury.

Introduction: The initiation and translation of sex-sensitive and gender-sensitive research programmes into clinically useful considerations for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been difficult. Clinical frameworks are currently not specific according to sex and gender, despite evidence that these constructs influence the incidence, course and outcome of patients with TBI. The present protocol outlines a strategy for a research programme, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Gender and Health, which explores sex and gender topics in the context of TBI, with the goal of building an infrastructure to facilitate the implementation of sex/gender-sensitive research findings into clinical considerations.

The course and prognostic factors of cognitive outcomes after traumatic brain injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Despite indications that TBI may be a precursor of cognitive decline and subsequent development of Alzheimer's disease, little is known about the time course of this relationship and the factors involved. This systematic review summarizes the evidence pertinent to this subject matter. All English language studies of longitudinal design, and works cited within them, found in six literature databases, were considered, and their quality assessed.

Traumatic brain injury: sex, gender and intersecting vulnerabilities.

Over the past decade, traumatic brain injury (TBI) has emerged as a major public health concern, attracting considerable interest from the scientific community, clinical and behavioural services and policymakers, owing to its rising prevalence, wide-ranging risk factors and substantial lifelong familial and societal impact. This increased attention to TBI has resulted in increased funding and advances in legislation. However, many questions surrounding TBI remain unanswered, including questions on sex and gender trends with respect to vulnerability to injury, presentation of injury, response to treatment, and outcomes.

The involvement of Rhopr-CRF/DH in feeding and reproduction in the blood-gorging insect Rhodnius prolixus.

Rhodnius prolixus is a blood-gorging insect and a vector for human Chagas disease. The insect transmits the disease following feeding, when it excretes urine and feces contaminated with the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. A corticotropin-releasing factor-like peptide acts as a diuretic hormone in R.

Sleep and Psychiatric Disorders in Persons With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) frequently challenges the integrity of sleep function by affecting multiple brain areas implicated in controlling the switch between wakefulness and sleep and those involved in circadian and homeostatic processes; the malfunction of each causes a variety of disorders. In this review, we discuss recent data on the dynamics between disorders of sleep and mental/psychiatric disorders in persons with mTBI. This analysis sets the stage for understanding how a variety of physiological, emotional and environmental influences affect sleep and mental activities after injury to the brain.

Post-Traumatic Sleep-Wake Disorders.

All living organisms that face a traumatic life event are susceptible to sleep-wake disturbances. Stress, which can result in trauma, evokes a high level of physiological arousal associated with sympathetic nervous system activation, during both sleep and wakefulness. Heredity, sex hormones, early losses, developmental factors and intra- and interpersonal conflicts, contribute to the level of baseline physiological arousal, producing either subclinical, clinical or complex clinical traits, acutely and at any time after exposure to a traumatic event.

Concussion/mild traumatic brain injury-related chronic pain in males and females: A diagnostic modelling study.

Pain is an unpleasant, complex, and perceived experience that places a significant burden on patients and clinicians. Its severity may be mediated by emotion, attitude, and environmental influences, and pain may be expressed differently in males and females. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently associated with chronic pain.

Sex differences in work-related traumatic brain injury due to assault.

Objectives: To examine the etiology, prevalence and severity of assault-precipitated work-related traumatic brain injury (wrTBI) in Ontario, Canada through a sex lens.

Methods: Cross-sectional study using data abstracted from the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) claims files in 2004. Descriptive analyses were conducted to determine the distribution of worker/employment/incident characteristics.

The Risk of Sleep Disorder Among Persons with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Sleep disorders and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are among the most commonly occurring neurological problems clinicians encounter simultaneously. Each can cause the other, and both share common predisposing factors. An important question that remains to be addressed is whether high-risk groups can be defined.

The relationship between insomnia and disability in workers with mild traumatic brain injury/concussion: Insomnia and disability in chronic mild traumatic brain injury.

Aim/background: The principal aim of this study was to, for the first time, examine the relationship between insomnia and perceived disability among workers with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)/concussion.

Patients/methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Clinic of the largest rehabilitation teaching hospital in Canada. Data from questionnaires, insurer records and clinical investigations were analysed.

Modeling community integration in workers with delayed recovery from mild traumatic brain injury.

Background: Delayed recovery in persons after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is poorly understood. Community integration (CI) is endorsed by persons with neurological disorders as an important outcome. We aimed to describe CI and its associated factors in insured Ontario workers with delayed recovery following mTBI.

Insomnia in workers with delayed recovery from mild traumatic brain injury.

Objective/background/aim: Insomnia has not been explored as it relates to recovery after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of insomnia among Ontario workers with delayed recovery from mTBI, and its relationship with sociodemographic, TBI- and claim-related, behavioral, and clinical factors.

Patients/methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out over a period of 24 months in a large rehabilitation hospital in Ontario.

The Pittsburgh sleep quality index as a screening tool for sleep dysfunction in clinical and non-clinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This review appraises the process of development and the measurement properties of the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), gauging its potential as a screening tool for sleep dysfunction in non-clinical and clinical samples; it also compares non-clinical and clinical populations in terms of PSQI scores. MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and HAPI databases were searched. Critical appraisal of studies of measurement properties was performed using COSMIN.

A systematic review of fatigue in patients with traumatic brain injury: the course, predictors and consequences.

Background: Fatigue is common after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Its risk factors, natural history and consequences are uncertain. Best-evidence synthesis was used to address the gaps.

Screening for sleep dysfunction after traumatic brain injury.

Numerous studies on the high prevalence of sleep disorders in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been conducted in the past few decades. These disorders can accentuate other consequences of TBI, negatively impacting mood, exacerbating pain, heightening irritability, and diminishing cognitive abilities and the potential for recovery. Nevertheless, sleep is not routinely assessed in this population.

Fatigue in adults with traumatic brain injury: predictors and consequences. A systematic review of longitudinal study protocols.

Background: Despite strong indications that fatigue is the most common and debilitating symptom after traumatic brain injury, little is known about its frequency, natural history, or relation to other factors. The current protocol outlines a strategy for a systematic review that will identify, assess, and critically appraise studies that assessed predictors for fatigue and the consequences of fatigue on at least two separate time points following traumatic brain injury.

Methods/design: MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CINAHL, and PsycINFO will be systematically searched for relevant peer-reviewed studies.