Subjective sleep quality and postconcussion symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Primary objective: The goal of this investigation is to examine the prevalence of poor subjective sleep in patients with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and examine the relationship between subjective sleep quality and postconcussive symptoms (PCS), above and beyond the typical demographic and psychological distress variables.

Research design: Individuals with a history of mTBI completed online questionnaires. Regression analysis was utilized to determine if subjective sleep quality would predict PCS severity, above and beyond demographic variables and psychological distress.

Methods and procedures: Individuals with a history of mTBI (n = 158) completed surveys online. Sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and PCS with the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI). Demographic information was collected and psychological distress was measured using the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18).

Main outcomes and results: In this sample, 92% of patients with mTBI reported poor sleep. Sleep quality significantly accounted for the variance in PCS, above and beyond demographics, time since injury and psychological distress (p < 0.001), although only a small amount of the variance in PCS was explained.

Conclusions: Results indicate that poor subjective sleep quality is a significant problem in those with mTBI. While sleep is associated with PCS severity, psychological distress is a more potent predictor.

• Concussion
• mood
• postconcussive syndrome
• psychological distress

Declaration of interest

The research reported here was supported in part by the Department of Defense (W81XWH-10-1-0719), Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC). Further support was provided by the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or the official policy of the Department of Army, Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs or US Government.