Abstract
Endocrine dysfunction is a common effect of traumatic brain injury (TBI). In addition to affecting the regulation of important body functions, the disruption of endocrine physiology can significantly impair mental functions, such as attention, memory, executive function, and mood. This mini-review focuses on alterations in mental functioning that are associated with neuroendocrine disturbances in adults who suffered TBI. It summarizes the contribution of hormones to the regulation of mental functions, the consequences of TBI on mental health and neuroendocrine homeostasis, and the effects of hormone substitution on mental dysfunction caused by TBI. The available empirical evidence suggests that comprehensive assessment of mental functions should be standard in TBI subjects presenting with hormone deficiency and that hormone replacement therapy should be accompanied by pre- and post-assessments.
Highlights
traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents one of the leading causes of cognitive, emotional, and motor disability in both, industrialized and non-industrialized countries; falls, road, occupational and recreational accidents, and violence are the most frequent causes of TBI [1].J
This mini-review focuses on alterations in mental functioning that are associated with neuroendocrine disturbances in adults who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI); it considers the role of hormones in brain plasticity
While antidiuretic hormone (ADH) deficiency may contribute to diabetes insipidus in some patients [36], it may underpin hyponatremia, a serious complication of up to 33% of subjects who suffered TBI [35,37]
Summary
TBI represents one of the leading causes of cognitive, emotional, and motor disability in both, industrialized and non-industrialized countries; falls, road, occupational and recreational accidents, and violence are the most frequent causes of TBI [1]. TBI may be seen as a more “generalized” brain injury, causing nonspecific functional impairments, e.g., cognitive slowing; more specific functional deficits in the domains of attention, memory and executive function result from focal injury to grey and white matter contusion or traumatic complications [7,8]. This mini-review focuses on alterations in mental functioning (cognition, mood) that are associated with neuroendocrine disturbances in adults who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI); it considers the role of hormones in brain plasticity. Our review of the available empirical evidence suggests that improvements in the identification and management of hormone deficiencies in TBI subjects requires the inclusion of comprehensive, standardized neuropsychological assessment; this will help better understand and explain functional impairments in TBI
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