Paper publication on cognitive impairment and fatigue after acquired brain injury.

This paper, entitled “Is there evidence for a relationship between cognitive impairment and fatigue after acquired brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis” was a joint team effort led by PhD student Avril Dillon, with a wider supervisory team across Oxford Brookes, the University of Oxford and the University of Nottingham. Below is a summary of the paper for the general public.  

In this systematic review, the team aimed to better understand the relationship between the severity of fatigue and cognitive impairment after Acquired Brain Injury (including stroke) by analyzing and summarizing existing research findings in the literature.  

Fatigue is a highly problematic and persistent consequence of acquired brain injury. Acquired Brain Injury was defined to include Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, and subarachnoid Haemorrhage (SAH). Many survivors report that fatigue is their most severe symptom as it negatively affects their participation in everyday activities. Mental fatigue especially is very often reported. This typically occurs when engaging in a thinking task that requires a lot of concentration.  

In this work, sixteen research papers in which 1,745 participants were studied were included. All the studies researched the relationship between thinking problems and fatigue. The analysis found that fatigue was most strongly related to slower cognitive processing and sustained attention, and weaker relations with planning and memory processes.  

This study is important as it provided evidence for a relationship between cognitive processes and fatigue after brain injury. The results suggest that managing changes in thinking abilities during recovery may improve fatigue and participation in meaningful activities after stroke, traumatic brain injury or subarachnoid hemorrhage. 

Citation: Dillon, A., Casey, J., Gaskell, H., Drummond, A., Demeyere, N., & Dawes, H. (2022). Is there evidence for a relationship between cognitive impairment and fatigue after acquired brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Disability and Rehabilitation, 1-14.