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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2022; 15(S 01): 89-96
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20220007
ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Effect of the anodal transcranial direct current electrical stimulation on cognition of medical residents with acute sleep deprivation

Authors

  • Daniel San-Juan

    1   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Epilepsy Clinic - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Raúl Nathanael May Mas

    2   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Neurology Department - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Cuauhtémoc Gutiérrez

    3   Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Psychology Posgraduate Department - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Jorge Morales

    1   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Epilepsy Clinic - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Ana Díaz

    4   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Unit of Cognition and Behavior - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Gerardo Quiñones

    2   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Neurology Department - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Axel Kevin Galindo

    1   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Epilepsy Clinic - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Luis Armando Baigts

    1   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Epilepsy Clinic - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • Cecilia Ximenez-Camilli

    1   Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Manuel Velasco Suárez, Epilepsy Clinic - Mexico City - Mexico City - Mexico.

  • David Anschel

    5   New York University Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Epilepsy Center - New York - New York - United States.
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BACKGROUND Medical residents must sustain acute sleep deprivation, which can lead to nonfatal and fatal consequences in hospitals due to cognitive decline. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) is a safe noninvasive neuromodulation technique that can induce depolarization of neurons. Previous studies in pilots have shown benefits against fatigue increasing wakefulness and cognitive performance. However, the effects of a-tDCS on cognition in acute sleep deprived healthcare workers remains unknown.

Purpose To evaluate cognitive changes in sleep deprived medical residents after one session of a-tDCS.

Methods Open clinical test-re-test study including 13 medical residents with acute sleep deprivation. Subjects received 1 session of bifrontal a-tDCS (2mAx20min), anodal over the left dorsolateral prefrontal region. Pre-and-post treatment subjects were tested with Beck anxiety inventory, Beck depression and HVLT tests, Rey´s and Taylor´s figures, Trail Making A/B, Stroop, Aleatory Digit retention test (WAIS), Digits and symbols and MoCA tests. Post-intervention was added the Executive functions and Frontal Lobes Neuropsychological Battery (BANFE2) test and changing the Taylor figure for Reyfigure.

Results Twelve medical residents were analyzed; 8 men and 4 women, 29.5 (+/-2.2) years mean age. All had a mean of 21.6 (+/-1.3) hours of sleep deprivation. There were no serious adverse events. We found statistically significant difference in Rey´s/Taylor´s figures (p=0.002), Trail Making Test (p=0.005), WAIS IV symbols (p=0.003), Word Stroop (p=0.021). BANFE-2 showed that the main affected area was the orbito-medial prefrontal region.

Conclusion a-tDCS appears safe and improves working memory, attention, response time and distractors elimination in acute sleep deprived medical residents.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - Sleep Deprivation - Cognitive Remediation

Declaration of Interests

The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest


Funding

This research was not funded by any public or private institution.




Publication History

Received: 25 March 2021

Accepted: 20 July 2021

Article published online:
01 December 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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