A simple intervention for disorders of consciousness- is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Copyright © 2022 Yelden, James, Duport, Kempny, Farmer, Leff and Playford..

Sleep is a physiological state necessary for memory processing, learning and brain plasticity. Patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) show none or minimal sign of awareness of themselves or their environment but appear to have sleep-wake cycles. The aim of our study was to assess baseline circadian rhythms and sleep in patients with DOC; to optimize circadian rhythm using an intervention combining blue light, melatonin and caffeine, and to identify the impact of this intervention on brain function using event related potentials. We evaluated baseline circadian rhythms and sleep in 17 patients with DOC with 24-h polysomnography (PSG) and 4-hourly saliva melatonin measurements for 48 h. Ten of the 17 patients (5 female, age 30-71) were then treated for 5 weeks with melatonin each night and blue light and caffeine treatment in the mornings. Behavioral assessment of arousal and awareness [Coma recovery scale-revised (CRS-R)], 24-h polysomnography and 4-hourly saliva melatonin measurements, oddball mismatch negativity (MMN) and subject's own name (SON) experiments were performed twice at baseline and following intervention. Baseline sleep was abnormal in all patients. Cosinor analysis of saliva melatonin results revealed that averaged baseline % rhythmicity was low (M: 31%, Range: 13-66.4%, SD: 18.4). However, increase in % Melatonin Rhythm following intervention was statistically significant (p = 0.012). 7 patients showed improvement of CRS-R scores with intervention and this was statistically significant (p = 0.034). All the patients who had improvement of clinical scores also had statistically significant improvement of neurophysiological responses on MMN and SON experiments at group level (p = 0.001). Our study shows that sleep and circadian rhythms are severely deranged in DOC but optimization is possible with melatonin, caffeine and blue light treatment. Clinical and physiological parameters improved with this simple and inexpensive intervention. Optimization of sleep and circadian rhythms should be integrated into rehabilitation programs for people with DOC.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:13

Enthalten in:

Frontiers in neurology - 13(2022) vom: 15., Seite 824880

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Yelden, Kudret [VerfasserIn]
James, Leon M [VerfasserIn]
Duport, Sophie [VerfasserIn]
Kempny, Agnieszka [VerfasserIn]
Farmer, Simon F [VerfasserIn]
Leff, Alex P [VerfasserIn]
Playford, E Diane [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Circadian rhythm
Disorders of consciousness
Event related potentials
Journal Article
Melatonin
Minimally conscious state (MCS)
Polysomnography
Sleep
Vegetative state

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 09.08.2022

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.3389/fneur.2022.824880

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM344565270