Sleep Disturbances Effect on the Development of Disability Following a Motor Vehicle Collision: A Cohort Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate sleep disturbance and calculate its effect on long-term outcomes for people with whiplash associated disorder (WAD) following a motor vehicle collision (MVC). Methods: A secondary analysis of data for 97 people (females = 72) diagnosed with WAD was collected at 10%. Logistic regression was used to calculate significance and odds ratios (OR) for the variables of age, body mass index (BMI), sex, and sleep disturbance. Results: With logistic regression age and BMI were non-significant factors, however, sex (ꭕ2 = 9.37, p = 0.025; OR = 4.3) and sleep disturbance (ꭕ2 = 17.56, p = 0.002; OR 5.4) were significant factors predicting persistent disability for people with WAD. Conclusion: Sleep disturbance has a moderate effect on the development of persistent WAD while no sleep disturbance is associated with recovery. Assessing and managing sleep disturbance in the health care setting may help to reduce some of the burden of chronic WAD.