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Use of CBT-I in Individuals With a Concussion

Use of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Individuals With a Concussion

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04885205
Enrollment
40
Registered
2021-05-13
Start date
2021-04-30
Completion date
2022-12-02
Last updated
2023-03-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Concussion, Mild

Brief summary

Sleep disturbances have been shown to contribute to poorer recovery from a concussion. Furthermore, sleep disturbances have been associated with more frequent and severe post-concussion symptoms including headache, vertigo, anxiety, depression, and decreased short term memory reducing quality of life and productivity at work or school. Additionally, recent research indicates that individuals with a concussion who have poor sleep quality have increased levels of Neurofilament light (NfL) and tau biomarkers indicating that there may still be axonal damage after weeks or months after the initial concussion injury. Post-concussion symptoms have been associated with higher levels of these biomarkers and there has been a report of higher levels of NfL and tau years following a concussion event. Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is an effective treatment for insomnia yet it remains unclear if this treatment method is effective in improving sleep outcomes, reducing concomitant post-concussion symptoms, and biomarkers of neural injury/risk in individuals post- concussion. The central hypothesis for this project is treating sleep disturbances will yield a clinically relevant reduction in concomitant post-concussion symptoms. The objective for the proposed study is to determine if CBT-I will reduce insomnia symptoms and improve concomitant post-concussion symptoms in individuals after concussion and if symptom improvements are maintained at 6-weeks and 12-weeks after CBT-I intervention.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALcognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)

The CBT-I program is a 6-week, 1x/week, one-on-one program. The delivery of CBT-I will be done remotely over a secure teleconference service (Zoom) or phone. Participants will maintain a sleep diary during the course of the program to aid in tailoring the intervention. Each session lasts about 45-60min:

Sponsors

University of Kansas Medical Center
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 64 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Aged 18 to 64 years old * At least 4 weeks since concussion injury * Self-report difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep, or waking up too early at least 3 nights per week since injury * Score ≥10 on the Insomnia Severity Index to indicate clinical insomnia. * Score ≥25 on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) questionnaire

Exclusion criteria

* Known untreated sleep disorder (such as sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, circadian rhythm disorder, hypersomnia, parasomnias) * Increased risk obstructive sleep apnea (STOP BANG Score ≥3) * Increased risk of restless leg syndrome on RLS-Diagnosis Index * Increased risk of circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorder (respond Yes to all circadian rhythm questions). * Increased risk of parasomnia (Respond Yes to all questions for night mere disorder OR respond Yes to all REM sleep arousal disorder: Sleep walking questions, OR responds Yes to all REM sleep arousal disorder: Sleep Terrors questions, OR respond Yes to all REM sleep behavior disorder questions.) * Active abuse or history (up to 2 years) of alcohol/ drug dependence as defined by the DSM-V criteria * Severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder * Score of \> 29 on the Beck Depression Inventory or indication of suicidality (response of 2 or 3to item 9) * History of diagnosed nervous system disorder other than concussion (such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Stroke) * Currently works nightshift

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
change in Beck Depression Inventorybaseline to 21 weeks21 item questionnaire used to assess the severity of depression. Scores range from 1 to greater than 40.
change in Insomnia Severity Indexbaseline to 21 weeks7 questions each rated on a 0-4 scale. The range of scores on the ISI is 0-28
change in PSQIbaseline to 21 weeksScores range from 0-21 with a higher score indicating a lower quality of sleep
change in Post-Concussion Symptom Scalebaseline to 21 weeksSeverity of 22 concussion-related symptoms are assessed by a Likert scale 0-6. Participants will rate their symptoms from a 0 or no symptom to 6 extreme symptom. A score of 132 is the maximum someone can have indicating all symptoms are severe. 2. The number of post-concussion symptoms will be assessed by counting the number of symptoms that the participant identified as having a severity of 1 or higher on the PCSS. A score of a 1 indicates that the symptom is mild, but still noticeable.
change in Beck Anxiety Inventorybaseline to 21 weeksThe tool consists of 21 items that are scored on a Likert scale of 1-3. Scores range from minimal anxiety (0-7), mild anxiety (8-15) moderate anxiety (16-25) and severe anxiety (\<30).

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
change in Dysfunctional Beliefs About Sleep (DBAS)baseline to 21 weeks30 item Likert-scale self-report questionnaire with 0 = strongly disagree to 10 = strongly agree; scores range from 0-300 and a higher score indicates more dysfunctional beliefs about sleep
change in Sleep Self-Efficacybaseline to 21 weeks9 item self-report Likert-scale questionnaire; Scores range from 0-45 and a higher score indicates higher sleep self-efficacy
change in RU-SATED questionnairebaseline to 21 weeksto 6 questions asking sleep regularity, subjective satisfaction, appropriate timing, adequate duration, high sleep efficiency, and sustained alertness during the day; Participants answer each question with Rarely/ Never (0), Sometimes (1), and Usually/ Always (2). There are ten points possible.
change in plasma neurofilament light (NfL)baseline to 21 weeksblood marker of axonal damage
change in plasma pTau181baseline to 21 weeksblood marker of tauopathy

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 11, 2026