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Purpose: This study aimed to determine if brief psychosocial/behavioral therapy directed to reduce poststroke depression would decrease fatigue and improve sleep-wake disturbance., Design: A preplanned secondary data analysis from a completed clinical trial was conducted., Methods: One hundred participants received usual care, in-person intervention, or telephone intervention. Depression, fatigue, and sleep-wake disturbance were measured at entry, 8 weeks, 21 weeks, and 12 months following the intervention., Findings: Fatigue (within: p = .042, between: p = .394), sleep disturbance (within: p = .024, between: p = .102), and wake disturbance (within: p = .004, between: p = .508) decreased over the 12 months in the intervention groups, but not in the control group. This difference was clinically meaningful for wake disturbance and approached the clinically important difference for fatigue., Conclusions/clinical Relevance: Reduction in wake disturbance was consistent with clinically meaningful difference standards for patient-reported outcomes, warranting further research in larger samples., (Copyright © 2021 Association of Rehabilitation Nurses.)

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine (1) the prevalence and degree of hypothermia in patients on emergency department admission and (2) the effect of hypothermia and rate of rewarming on patient outcomes., Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted on patients admitted to a level I trauma center following severe traumatic brain injury (n = 147). Patients were grouped according to temperature on admission according to hypothermia status and rate of rewarming (rapid or slow). Regression analyses were performed., Findings: Hypothermic patients were more likely to have lower postresuscitation Glasgow Coma Scale scores and a higher initial injury severity score. Hypothermia on admission was correlated with longer intensive care unit stays, a lower Glasgow Coma Scale score at discharge, higher mortality rate, and lower Glasgow outcome score-extended scores up to 6 months postinjury (P < .05). When controlling for other factors, rewarming rates more than 0.25°C/h were associated with lower Glasgow Coma Scale scores at discharge, longer intensive care unit length of stay, and higher mortality rate than patients rewarmed more slowly although these did not reach statistical significance., Conclusion: Hypothermia on admission is correlated with worse outcomes in brain-injured patients. Patients with traumatic brain injury who are rapidly rewarmed may be more likely to have worse outcomes. Trauma protocols may need to be reexamined to include controlled rewarming at rates 0.25°C/h or less.

Background: Care of brain-injured patients in intensive care units has focused on maintaining arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure within prescribed ranges. Research suggests, however, that the dynamic variability of these pressure signals provides additional information about physiological functioning and may reflect adaptive capacity., Objectives: To see if long-term outcomes can be predicted from variability of arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage., Methods: Arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure were monitored continuously for 4 days in 90 patients (74% women; mean age, 53 years) in an intensive care unit after subarachnoid hemorrhage. Variability of arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure signals was calculated on 4 timescales: 24 hours, 1 hour, 5 minutes, and the difference of sequential 5-second means. The Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale was used to assess functional outcome 6 months after subarachnoid hemorrhage., Results: Pressure variability was better than mean pressure levels for predicting 6-month functional outcome. When initial neurological condition was controlled for, greater faster variability (particularly 5-second) was associated with better outcomes (typical P<.001), whereas greater 24-hour variability was associated with poorer outcomes (typical P<.001)., Conclusions: The relationship between long-term functional outcome and variability of arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure levels depends on the timescale at which the variability is measured. Because it is associated with better outcome, greater faster variability may reflect better physiological adaptive capacity.

This study examined the relationship of cumulative percent time that cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) fell below set thresholds to outcome in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The sample included 157 patients (16 to 89 years of age, 79%, male) admitted to an intensive care unit at an academic medical center who underwent invasive arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure monitoring. CPP levels were recorded continuously during the first 96 hours of monitoring. Initial neurologic status was assessed using the post-resuscitation Glasgow Coma Scale. Outcome was evaluated at hospital discharge and at six months post-injury using the Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE). The relationship of cumulative periods of low CPP to outcome was evaluated using hierarchical and binary logistic regression analysis, controlling for age, gender, and injury severity. Patients experiencing less cumulative percent time below specific CPP thresholds were more likely to have better outcome at discharge (55 mm Hg, p = .004; 60 mm Hg, p = .008; 65 mm Hg, p = .024; 70 mm Hg, p = .016). Although differences in GOSE scores at six months were not significant, those with less time below CPP thresholds were more likely to survive. Accumulated episodes of low CPP had a stronger negative relationship with outcome in patients with more severe primary brain injury.