The Influence of Atypical Sleep Before Baseline Concussion Testing

Abstract

Abstract Objective To examine the role of an atypical night of sleep prior to baseline neuropsychological testing on symptom reporting and cognitive functioning in student-athletes. Method 182 (M = 138, F = 44) athletes were assessed on neuropsychological battery at baseline. Athletes were categorized as sleeping a typical amount (within 1.5 hours, N = 128) or less (> 1.5 hours less, N = 54) the night prior to baseline. The Cognitive Health Questionnaire (CHQ) assessed typical levels of sleep and the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) assessed hours of sleep the night before. Independent samples t-tests compared the two groups on the following outcome measures: affective, somatic, sleep, and cognitive post-concussion symptom scale (PCSS) clusters, headache, Beck-Depression Inventory-Fast Screen (BDI-FS), and composites of memory and attention/processing speed. Results Athletes getting less sleep than typical the night before a baseline assessment reported significantly more depression symptoms on the BDI-FS (p < .001) and significantly more symptoms on all PCSS symptoms scales: affective (p < .001), cognitive (p < .001), physical (p < .001), and sleep (p = .001). A trend in the same direction was present for headache (p = .06). The groups did not significantly differ on performance on either composite of cognitive functioning (p > .05). Conclusions Sleeping less than the typical amount the night before a baseline assessment results in self-reported higher levels of depression symptoms across all domains of the PCSS.