Biological Sex/Gender and Biopsychosocial Determinants of Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery Trajectories

AbstractPurpose of ReviewThe goals of the report are to integrate recent and key foundational gender- and sex-related, post-traumatic brain injury (TBI) literature across several research domains, to highlight need for increased cross-field communication using an integrative biopsychosocial research model, and to provide recommendations for further research approaches and foci.Recent FindingsRecent findings of TBI studies addressing gender and/or biological sex provide evidence of women ’s unique risks for injury, significant differences in severity, type, and number of post-TBI symptoms reported by women vs. men, and complex, interactive molecular, genetic, psychosocial, and physiological factors that contribute differently to TBI outcomes for the sexes.SummaryBrain injury researchers, following years of failed clinical trials and mixed findings, are adopting new methods for more precisely characterizing differing effects of sex on both responses to TBI and recovery trajectories as well as underlying causes of these differences. New approaches include analysis of large data sets, use of sophisticated statistical models, more consistent exploration of sex-specific effects of TBI in more TBI study domains, and use of more precise measures. Increased cross-field communication and collaboration, stratification by sex, and increased adoption of these approaches are recommended to help advance understanding of TBI and move us closer to treatment development.
Source: Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports - Category: Rehabilitation Source Type: research