Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019;33(11):1413-1419.
doi: 10.1080/02699052.2019.1643921. Epub 2019 Jul 19.

The role of sleep deficiency in the trajectory of postconcussive symptoms in adolescents

See Wan Tham  1   2 , Rachel V Aaron  3 , Tonya M Palermo  1   2
Affiliations

The role of sleep deficiency in the trajectory of postconcussive symptoms in adolescents

See Wan Tham et al. Brain Inj. 2019.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the trajectory of sleep deficiency after concussion and examine its role as a predictor of postconcussive symptoms (PCS) over 3 weeks and at 3 months post-concussion. Design: This was a prospective pilot study of 29 adolescents recruited from a pediatric Emergency Department (69% female, mean age = 14.0 years, SD = 1.8) following a concussion. Methods: Adolescents completed questionnaire assessments at baseline, Weeks 1, 2, and 3 on PCS and sleep patterns. Concurrently, adolescents also completed a daily diary and wore an actigraph continuously to monitor sleep activity. At 3 months post-concussion, adolescents repeated questionnaire measures. Results: At enrollment, 53.6% reported severe PCS, and 12% maintained severe symptoms at 3 months. Over the first 3 weeks, sleep duration and daytime sleepiness gradually declined; however, insomnia symptoms remained unchanged. After accounting for age, sex and time since concussion, greater insomnia symptoms at enrollment were associated with more severe PCS at 3 weeks and 3 months (β = 1.17, p < .001). In contrast, sleep duration, efficiency, and waketime after sleep onset were not predictors. Conclusions: Study findings suggest that insomnia symptoms after concussion may provide a target for early intervention to reduce prolonged severity and duration of PCS.

Keywords: Postconcussive symptoms; actigraphy; adolescents; insomnia; sleep.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest related to this work.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Trajectory of postconcussion symptoms at Weeks 1, 2, 3, and 3 months.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rosenthal JA, Foraker RE, Collins CL, Comstock RD. National High School Athlete Concussion Rates From 2005–2006 to 2011–2012. The American journal of sports medicine. 2014;42(7):1710–5. - PubMed
    1. Blume H, Hawash K. Subacute concussion-related symptoms and postconcussion syndrome in pediatrics. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2012;24(6):724–30. - PubMed
    1. Truss K, Godfrey C, Takagi M, Babl FE, Bressan S, Hearps S, et al. Trajectories and Risk Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms following Pediatric Concussion. Journal of neurotrauma. 2017;34(14):2272–9. - PubMed
    1. Zemek RL, Farion KJ, Sampson M, McGahern C. Prognosticators of persistent symptoms following pediatric concussion: a systematic review. JAMA Pediatr. 2013;167(3):259–65. - PubMed
    1. Grubenhoff JA, Deakyne SJ, Brou L, Bajaj L, Comstock RD, Kirkwood MW. Acute concussion symptom severity and delayed symptom resolution. Pediatrics. 2014;134(1):54–62. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources