Assessment Of Sleep Quality By The Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire In Chinese Collegiate Athletes

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to characterize sleep quality and to explore the factors that are associated with the severity of sleep difficulty among Chinese collegiate athletes. Methods: Sleep quality and associated factors were assessed by the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) in college athletes (n = 395, 73.6% response rate, aged 18 to 32 years, 47.6% female, 22.5% were master level, 47.6% national level and 29.9% second level in 15 different sports events). A sleep difficulty score (SDS) and level of sleep problem (0-4, none; 5-7, mild; 8-10, moderate; 11-17, severe) were used to classify participants. In addition, sports-related information such as sports events and training years were collected. Categorical variables were analyzed by Chi-squared (ꭓ2) or fisher’s exact test. An ordinal logistic regression analysis was used to explore factors with poor sleep (SDS > 8). Results: Approximately 14.2% of participants were found to have moderate to severe sleep problem (SDS > 8). When athletes travelled to participate in sports competitions, those who have experienced sleep disturbance were more diagnosed in the moderate-to-severe problem category than those without sleep disturbance (11.4% Vs. 2.8%, ꭓ2, 27.5; P < 0.001). While athletes who experienced daytime dysfunction when traveling fell more into the moderate-to-severe sleep problem category than athletes without daytime dysfunction (7.6% Vs. 6.6%, ꭓ2, 20.7; P < 0.001). No significant difference was found in SDS category between gender, sports level and sports events (All P > 0.05). Athletes with evening chronotype were more likely to report worse sleep compared to athletes with morning chronotype (OR, 2.25; 95%CI, 1.44 - 3.52; P < 0.001). For each additional year of age, there was an increase in odds ratio for poor sleep quality (OR1.15; 95% CI, 1.04 - 1.26; P = 0.004). However, increasing each additional year of training reduced the odds ratio for poor sleep quality (OR,0.95; 95% CI, 0.91 - 0.99; P = 0.044). Conclusion: To improve sleep health in collegiate athletes, chronotype, travel-related issues, age and training years should be taken into consideration in sleep counseling.