Assessment of parent report and actigraphy for sleep in children with autism spectrum disorders. Pilot study

ObjectiveSleep problems are common in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and that in turn impact adversely on child behavioral problems. However, in Middle East, there have been few studies of sleep problems in children with ASD. The main objective of this study was to measures sleep pattern that differentiated ASD children with and without parental sleep concerns, and correlated with objective measures by actigraphy. Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score in ASD was used to measure the severity of score.MethodsThe Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and actigraphy-measured data from 18 ASD children (15 males and 3 females; mean age 5.2 years) were evaluated.ResultsASD poor sleepers (based on CSHQ score) significantly differed from ASD good sleepers on actigraphic (sleep latency, sleep efficiency, fragmentation) and were reported severe behaviors problems based on CARS score.ConclusionThis work provides the basis for focused studies to understand sleep in ASD population and targeted interventions to improve it but large scale studies are recommended. The study also shows that sleep problem are related to problematic behavior in ASD children.