Objective To clarify the actual status of sleep disorders due to sports-related concussion (SRC) in Japan.

Design Retrospective study.

Setting SRC clinics in Japan.

Participants The observation period was from September 2020 to March 2021, and 69 cases seen during this period were included. Selection criteria: 1) sports-related injury, 2) SRC cases, 3) cases evaluated by the same neurosurgeon, 4) cases that could be followed continuously for 28 days, and 5) Patients who were found to have insomnia-related items on the Sports Concussion Assessment tool (SCAT) and were evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Criteria for control: Cases 1) to 4) are the same as above, but 5) no insomnia-related items were found in the SCAT at the time of examination.

Statistical Methods A t-test was used.

Main Results 25 of the 69 patients (36%) had sleep disturbances. The mean age of these 25 cases was 22 years, and 21 (84%) were male. The mean PSQI score was 5.2, the mean PHQ-9 score was 0.3, and the mean SDS score was 39.9. The mean SDS score in the 44 patients who did not show sleep disturbance was 34.3, and the difference between the mean SDS score in the two groups was clearly different (p < 0.05).

Conclusions In Japanese SRC patients, sleep disturbances were observed to a certain extent, and the tendency toward depression was stronger than in patients without sleep disturbances. Further investigation of specific management interventions for each subgroup is needed.