Nightly Sleep Duration and Symptom Burden Over 1 Month Following Pediatric Concussion
Abstract
Importance: Approximately half of all youths with concussions report sleep disturbance, including short and long sleep durations, in the first week of recovery. Limited longitudinal research exists regarding the association between sleep duration and symptom burden during acute pediatric concussion recovery.
Objective: To investigate the association between mean nightly sleep duration over 1 week (days 1 to 7) and 2 weeks (days 1 to 14) postinjury and subsequent symptom burden at 1, 2, and 4 weeks following pediatric concussion.
Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study used data from a randomized clinical trial conducted in 3 emergency pediatric departments in Ontario, Canada, from March 2017 to December 2019 (with secondary analysis conducted between September 2022 and September 2024). Eligible participants were between ages 10 years and 18 years who received treatment for a concussion within 48 hours.
Exposure: Sleep postinjury was measured with waist-worn accelerometers 24 hours per day for 2 weeks and daily sleep logs.
Main outcomes and measures: Symptom burden was measured with the Health and Behavior Inventory at 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks postconcussion. A nonlinear mixed-effects model was applied that estimated symptom burden at 1, 2, and 4 weeks from mean sleep duration over days 1 to 7 and days 1 to 14. Logistic regressions were performed to assess the odds of being reliably symptomatic at 2 and 4 weeks by mean sleep duration. Conservative (z ≥ 1.65)…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 291 participants or records.
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