Association of Age and Sex With Multi-Modal Cerebral Physiology in Adult Moderate/Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Narrative Overview and Future Avenues for Personalized Approaches

Abstract

The impact of age and biological sex on outcome in moderate/severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been documented in large cohort studies, with advanced age and male sex linked to worse long-term outcomes. However, the association between age/biological sex and high-frequency continuous multi-modal monitoring (MMM) cerebral physiology is unclear, with only sparing reference made in guidelines and major literature in moderate/severe TBI. In this narrative review, we summarize some of the largest studies associating various high-frequency MMM parameters with age and biological sex in moderate/severe TBI. To start, we present this by highlighting the representative available literature on high-frequency data from Intracranial Pressure (ICP), Cerebral Perfusion Pressure (CPP), Extracellular Brain Tissue Oxygenation (PbtO2), Regional Cerebral Oxygen Saturations (rSO2), Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF), Cerebral Blood Flow Velocity (CBFV), Cerebrovascular Reactivity (CVR), Cerebral Compensatory Reserve, common Cerebral Microdialysis (CMD) Analytes and their correlation to age and sex in moderate/severe TBI cohorts. Then we present current knowledge gaps in the literature, discuss biological implications of age and sex on cerebrovascular monitoring in TBI and some future avenues for bedside research into the cerebrovascular physiome after TBI.