Misperception of sleep duration in mild traumatic brain injury/concussion: a preliminary report

Background: Polysomnographic (PSG) findings of persons with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)/concussion show longer total sleep time than patients themselves report; the reason for this is not entirely clear. Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the socio-demographic, brain-injury-related, and clinical characteristics that underlie accuracy of sleep duration reporting in mTBI/concussion. Methods: Thirty-seven participants diagnosed with mTBI/concussion (57% male, 47.54 +/- 11.3 years old) underwent clinical and neuroimaging examinations, full-night PSG, and estimated sleep duration following PSG. Results: Mean self-reported sleep duration was 342 +/- 93.6 minutes and PSG-measured sleep duration was 382 +/- 76.8 minutes. Measurements were moderately correlated (rho = 0.46, p = .004). Age associated with self- and PSG-measured sleep duration (rho = 0.34 and rho = 0.84, respectively, p < .05). Self-reported sleep duration was uniquely associated with insomnia severity (rho = -0.48, p = .002). In the fully adjusted multivariable regression analysis, several clinical characteristics of patients explained 30% of the discrepancy between self- and PSG-measured sleep duration. Conclusion: The observed results indicate that persons with mTBI do not accurately assess their sleep duration and, therefore, PSG is warranted in clinical situations where sleep duration is of concern.

Automated summary

The study found that individuals with mTBI may not accurately assess their sleep duration, highlighting the importance of conducting PSG in clinical settings where sleep duration is a concern.