Acute cortisol profile associations with cognitive impairment after severe traumatic brain injury

Model System:

TBI

Reference Type:

Journal article

Accession No.:

J88162

Journal:

Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair (NNR)

Year, Volume, Issue, Page(s):

2021 , 35, 12, 1088-1099

Publication Website:

Abstract:

Study explored how acute cortisol profiles affect cognition among traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivors. It was hypothesized that serum and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) cortisol trajectories over days 0–5 post-injury are associated with cognition 6-month post-injury. The study evaluated 94 participants with severe TBI, collected acute serum and/or CSF samples over days 0–5 post-injury, and compared cortisol levels to those in 17 healthy controls. Eighty-eight participants had serum, and 84 had CSF samples available for cortisol measurement and had neuropsychological testing 6 months post-injury. Group based trajectory analysis (TRAJ) was used to generate temporal serum and CSF cortisol profiles which were examined for associations with neuropsychological performance. Linear regression was used to examine relationships between cortisol TRAJ groups and both overall and domain-specific cognition. TRAJ analysis identified a high group and a decliner group for serum and a high group and low group for CSF cortisol. Multivariable analysis showed serum cortisol TRAJ group was associated with overall cognitive composites scores and with executive function and verbal fluency domain scores. CSF cortisol TRAJ group was associated with overall cognitive composite scores and domain scores for executive function, verbal fluency, and attention. Conclusions: High acute cortisol trajectories are associated with poorer cognition 6 months post-TBI.

Author(s):