Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas, USA.
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
J Paediatr Child Health. 2023 Aug;59(8):948-954. doi: 10.1111/jpc.16421. Epub 2023 May 10.
The purpose of the study was to increase the body of knowledge related to sleep in children with autism. The specific aims were to (i) identify the subgroup of children with autism, ages 3-17 years, referred for polysomnography and (ii) describe types and frequency of clinical encounters for sleep problems in a sample of children ages 3-17 with and without the diagnosis of autism.
The authors performed a secondary data analysis of the de-identified Nationwide Children's Hospital Sleep DataBank, a collection of encounters with children referred for polysomnography. The data were filtered for ages 3-17 years at the time of the participant's first sleep study, and further filtered for the presence of an autism diagnosis.
In the sample, there were 2838 unique participants (M = 10.5 years) with a total of 172 167 encounters between 2017 and 2019. Of these, 198 (7%) were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperger's Syndrome, or Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Among all participants, the most common sleep problems were apnea, snoring, non-specified sleep disorders (including restless sleeper), circadian rhythm disorder (CRD), and insomnia. The subgroup of patients diagnosed with autism was noted to have higher frequency of several types of sleep problems, especially restless sleep, CRD and insomnia, compared to those without an autism diagnosis.
Findings elucidate the increased presence of sleep problems in paediatric patients with autism, and the need for purposeful sleep evaluation and research given the potential impact on daytime function for these individuals and their families.
本研究旨在增加与自闭症儿童睡眠相关的知识体系。具体目的是：(i) 确定接受多导睡眠图检查的自闭症儿童亚组（年龄 3-17 岁）；(ii) 描述在有和没有自闭症诊断的 3-17 岁儿童样本中，睡眠问题的临床就诊类型和频率。
作者对全国儿童医院睡眠数据库（一个收集接受多导睡眠图检查的儿童就诊信息的数据库）进行了二次数据分析。该数据根据参与者首次睡眠研究时的年龄进行了 3-17 岁的过滤，并进一步根据自闭症诊断的存在进行了过滤。
在样本中，有 2838 名年龄在 3-17 岁的唯一参与者（平均年龄为 10.5 岁），他们在 2017 年至 2019 年间总共进行了 172167 次睡眠研究。其中，198 名（7%）被诊断为自闭症谱系障碍、阿斯伯格综合征或广泛性发育障碍。在所有参与者中，最常见的睡眠问题是呼吸暂停、打鼾、非特异性睡眠障碍（包括睡眠不安者）、昼夜节律障碍（CRD）和失眠。与没有自闭症诊断的患者相比，被诊断为自闭症的患者亚组被发现存在更高频率的几种睡眠问题，特别是睡眠不安、CRD 和失眠。
研究结果阐明了自闭症儿童中睡眠问题的发生率增加，鉴于这些个体及其家庭白天功能的潜在影响，需要对睡眠进行有针对性的评估和研究。
