Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2022
Post-concussive vestibular dysfunction is related to injury to the inferior vestibular nerve.
Symptoms of vestibular dysfunction such as dizziness and vertigo are common after sports-related concussions (SRC) and associated with a worse outcome and a prolonged recovery. Vestibular dysfunction after SRC can be because of an impairment of the peripheral or central neural parts of the vestibular system. The aim of the present study was to establish the cause of vestibular impairment in athletes with SRC who have persisting post-concussive symptoms (PPCS). ⋯ Cerebellar gray and white matter volumes were similar in athletes with SRC and controls. Compared with controls, pathological video head impulse test results (vHIT; p < 0.001) and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP; p = 0.002) were observed in athletes with SRC, indicating peripheral vestibular dysfunction and specifically suggesting injury to the inferior vestibular nerve. In athletes with persisting symptoms after SRC, vestibular dysfunction is associated with injury to the inferior vestibular nerve.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2022
The relationship between visually evoked effects and concussion in youth.
Increased sensitivity to light is common after concussion. Viewing a flickering light can also produce uncomfortable somatic sensations like nausea or headache. We examined effects evoked by viewing a patterned, flickering screen in a cohort of 81 uninjured youth athletes and 84 concussed youth. ⋯ The presence of brain-predominant effects was associated with a higher concussion symptom burden and reduced performance on visio-vestibular tasks. Our findings indicate that the experience of negative constitutional, somatic sensations in response to a dynamic visual stimulus is a salient marker of concussion and is indicative of more severe concussion symptomatology. We speculate that differences in visually evoked effects reflect varying levels of activation of the trigeminal nociceptive system.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2022
Incidence of Depression after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Nationwide Longitudinal Study of 2.2 Million Adults.
Although improvements in acute care for traumatic brain injury (TBI) have increased the patient survival rate, many survivors often suffer from neuropsychiatric sequelae such as depression. This study investigated the influence of TBI on the risk of depression using South Korean nationwide data. Data were extracted from the National Health Insurance Service database for patients who experienced TBI from 2010 to 2017 (n = 1,141,593) and for 1:1 matched controls without TBI (n = 1,141,593). ⋯ Notably, during the first year after TBI, the depression risk was almost 11 times higher than that in the matched control group (HR 11.71, 95% CI = 11.54-11.87). Our findings highlight a significant association of TBI with an increased risk of subsequent depression. Therefore, continuous awareness with regard to patients' mental health is needed.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2022
Predicting Neurological Deterioration after Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: Development and Validation of a Prediction Model Based on Data Collected on Admission.
Moderate traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is a heterogeneous entity that is poorly defined in the literature. Patients with mTBI have a high rate of neurological deterioration (ND), which is usually accompanied by poor prognosis and no definitive methods to predict. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a prediction model that estimates the ND risk in patients with mTBI using data collected on admission. ⋯ The results of external validation showed that the nomogram could predict ND with an area under the curve of 0.827 (95% CI: 0.763-0.880). The present model, based on simple parameters collected on admission, can predict the risk of ND in patients with mTBI accurately. The high discriminative ability indicates the potential of this model for classifying patients with mTBI according to ND risk.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2022
Repeated subconcussive exposure alters low-frequency neural oscillation in memory retrieval processing.
Repeated subconcussive head impacts are frequently experienced by athletes involved in competitive sports, such as boxing. The objective of the present study was to investigate the changes in working memory performance and memory retrieval-related neural oscillations in boxing athletes who experienced repeated subconcussive head impacts. Twenty-one boxing athletes (boxing group) and 25 matched controls (control group) completed a modified visual working memory task, and their continuous scalp electroencephalography (EEG) data were collected simultaneously. ⋯ Moreover, a negative correlation was found between frontal beta synchronization and reaction time for most set sizes in both groups. The present study was the first to reveal the underlying working memory deficits caused by the cumulative effects of boxing-related subconcussive head impacts from the perspective of behavior and EEG time-frequency oscillations. Joint analysis of EEG low-frequency oscillations and the innovative task with multiple challenging load conditions may serve as a promising way to detect concealed deficiencies within working memory processing.