|
Citation
|
Sufrinko A, Pearce K, Elbin RJ, Covassin T, Johnson E, Collins M, Kontos AP. Am. J. Sports Med. 2015; 43(4): 830-838. |
|
Affiliation
|
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA akontos@pitt.edu. |
|
Abstract
|
BACKGROUND: Researchers have reported that sleep duration is positively related to baseline neurocognitive performance. However, researchers have yet to examine the effect of preinjury sleep difficulties on postconcussion impairments.
PURPOSE: To compare neurocognitive impairment and symptoms of athletes with preinjury sleep difficulties to those without after a sport-related concussion (SRC). STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
METHODS: The sample included 348 adolescent and adult athletes (age, mean ± SD, 17.43 ± 2.34 years) with a diagnosed SRC. The sample was divided into 2 groups: (1) 34 (10%) participants with preinjury sleep difficulties (sleeping less as well as having trouble falling asleep; SLEEP SX) and (2) 231 (66%) participants without preinjury sleep difficulties (CONTROL). The remaining 84 (24%) participants with minimal sleep difficulties (1 symptom) were excluded. Participants completed the Immediate Postconcussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT) and Postconcussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) at baseline and 3 postinjury intervals (2, 5-7, and 10-14 days after injury). A series of repeated-measures analyses of covariance with Bonferroni correction, controlling for baseline non-sleep-related symptoms, were conducted to compare postinjury neurocognitive performance between groups. Follow-up exploratory t tests examined between-group differences at each time interval. A series of analyses of variance were used to examine total PCSS score, sleep-related, and non-sleep-related symptoms across time intervals between groups.
RESULTS: Groups differed significantly in PCSS scores across postinjury intervals for reaction time (P <.001), with the preinjury SLEEP SX group performing worse than controls at 5-7 days (mean ± SD, 0.70 ± 0.32 [SLEEP SX], 0.60 ± 0.14 [CONTROL]) and 10-14 days (0.61 ± 0.17 [SLEEP SX]; 0.57 ± 0.10 [CONTROL]) after injury. Groups also differed significantly on verbal memory performance (P =.04), with the SLEEP SX (68.21 ± 18.64) group performing worse than the CONTROL group (76.76 ± 14.50) 2 days after injury. The SLEEP SX group reported higher total symptom (P =.02) and sleep-related symptom (P =.02) scores across postinjury time intervals.
CONCLUSION: Preinjury sleep difficulties may exacerbate neurocognitive impairment and symptoms after concussion. The findings may help clinicians identify athletes who are at risk for worse impairments after a concussion due to preinjury sleep difficulties.
Language: en |