Al Backer Nouf Backer, Jaafar Malak, Habibullah Hafiz, Bashir Shahid
Department of Pediatric, King Saud University Medical City, Faculty of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh P.O. 11461, Saudi Arabia.
Neuroscience Center, King Fahad Specialist Hospital Dammam, Dammam P.O. 15215, Saudi Arabia.
Children (Basel). 2018 Nov 16;5(11):153. doi: 10.3390/children5110153.
Sleep concerns are common in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The impact of poor sleep on cognitive performance in ASD children is not well-established. We investigated the possible correlation between sleep quality in ASD children and cognitive performance. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) was administered to examine specific components of non-verbal cognition.
The Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and actigraphy-measured data from 18 children with diagnosis of ASD were evaluated. Motor planning task (MOT), simple reaction time task (SRT) and the intradimensional/extradimensional shift (IED) of CANTAB were administered.
ASD good sleeper (ASD-GS) showed significant better response time for SRT task as compared to ASD poor sleeper (ASD-PS) based on CSHQ score. Parameters of bedtime resistance (r = 0.531, = 0.023), sleep anxiety (r = 0.474, = 0.047) from CSHQ and actigrapgy dependent (wake after sleep onset (WASO) (r = 0.430, = 0.024) were significantly correlate with response time of SRT task.
We conclude that some signs reflecting the presence of poor sleep in ASD correlate with various aspects of motor output on non-verbal performance tasks. The question is raised whether poor sleep in non-complaining persons with autism should be treated.
睡眠问题在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童中很常见。睡眠不佳对ASD儿童认知表现的影响尚未明确。我们调查了ASD儿童睡眠质量与认知表现之间的可能相关性。使用剑桥神经心理测试自动成套系统（CANTAB）来检查非语言认知的特定组成部分。
对18名诊断为ASD的儿童的儿童睡眠习惯问卷（CSHQ）和通过活动记录仪测量的数据进行了评估。进行了运动计划任务（MOT）、简单反应时间任务（SRT）以及CANTAB的维度内/维度间转换（IED）。
根据CSHQ评分，ASD良好睡眠者（ASD-GS）在SRT任务中的反应时间明显优于ASD睡眠不佳者（ASD-PS）。CSHQ中的上床睡觉抗拒参数（r = 0.531，P = 0.023）、睡眠焦虑（r = 0.474，P = 0.047）以及活动记录仪相关参数（睡眠开始后觉醒时间（WASO），r = 0.430，P = 0.024）与SRT任务的反应时间显著相关。
我们得出结论，一些反映ASD睡眠不佳的迹象与非语言表现任务中运动输出的各个方面相关。由此提出一个问题，即自闭症无睡眠抱怨者的睡眠不佳是否应予以治疗。
