Influence of sleep symptoms on recovery from concussion in collegiate athletes: a LIMBIC MATARS consortium investigation

ABSTRACT

Objective

Changes in sleep quality and quantity are commonly endorsed by individuals following a concussion. Limited data exists examining the role of sleep disturbances within 72 hours, and throughout recovery, from concussion. The objective of this study was to determine if the number of days to symptom resolution varied between collegiate athletes with or without sleep-related symptoms following a concussion.

Design

Retrospective chart review.

Methods

Collegiate athletes (n = 539) who were diagnosed with a concussion between the 2015–2020 sport seasons participated in this retrospective chart review. Participants were divided into groups based on the presence or absence of sleep symptoms within 72 hours of a diagnosed concussion. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare days to symptom resolution between groups with α = 0.05.

Results

Of the 539 participants, 250 (46.3%) reported sleep-related symptoms. Participants with sleep-related symptoms took significantly longer (U = 30656, p = 0.002) to report symptom resolution at rest (median [full range] = 8.00[0–423]) as compared to participants who did not report sleep-related symptoms (6.00[0–243] days).

Conclusion

Collegiate athletes that report sleep-related symptoms immediately following concussion (<72 hours) were observed to take, on median, two days longer to achieve symptom resolution at rest when compared to athletes who did not endorse the same symptoms.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep
• concussion
• recovery
• symptom resolution
• collegiate athletes

Acknowledgments

The LIMBIC MATARS consortium acknowledges and thanks the athletic trainers, athletes, and student researchers that supported our research endeavors. The authorship would like to acknowledge the contributing LIMBIC MATARS site investigators: Michelle Kirk, M.D. and David Gable, ATC, (Texas Christian University), Brett Mortensen, Ph.D., Michael J. Larson, Ph.D., (Brigham Young University), Erica Beidler, Ph.D. (Duquesne University), James Day, Ed.D. (Augustana University), Thayne Munce, Ph.D. and Allison Peplowski (University of South Dakota), Trish Kelshaw, Ph.D., (University of New Hampshire), Kristin Wilmoth, Ph.D., Nyaz Didehbani, Ph.D., and C. Munro Cullum, Ph.D., (The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center), Meredith Decker, Ph.D., (The University of Texas at Arlington), Tom Campbell, M.S. (Old Dominion University), Monique Pappadis, Ph.D. (The University of Texas Medical Branch), Sean Ahonen, ATC (Virginia Union University), Verle Valentine, M.D. (Sanford Health), Kate Higgins, Psy.D. and Heather Bouchard, M.A. (University of Nebraska), Jessica Wallace, Ph.D. (University of Alabama), Jessica Gill, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University), Catherine Donahue, Ph.D., Daniel Rosenblum, M.Ed., Donna Broshek, Ph.D. and Rachel Smetana, Ph.D. (University of Virginia), Tom Bowman, Ph.D., and Tenesha Helm (Lynchburg University), Samuel Walton, Ph.D., and Jessie Oldham, Ph.D. (Virginia Commonwealth University) as well as the NCAA collegiate athletes that contributed to this dataset.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

SRW reports receipts of honorarium and travel costs from the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA;2022). JER has received funding from the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium. DKB is Executive Director of the Sports Neuropsychology Society and receives an annual stipend. The remaining authors have nothing to declare.