Reduced sleep pressure in young children with autism

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Ayelet Arazi1,2, Gal Meiri3,4, Dor Danan4,5

  • 1Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Sleep
|December 19, 2019
PubMed

Insights

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show reduced sleep pressure, indicated by weaker slow-wave activity (SWA). This dysregulation of sleep homeostasis may contribute to their sleep disturbances.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Pediatrics
  • Sleep Medicine

Background:

  • Sleep disturbances are common in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
  • Sleep homeostasis, crucial for sleep regulation, has not been studied in this population.
  • The role of sleep pressure in ASD-related sleep issues is unknown.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate sleep homeostasis in children with ASD.
  • To examine slow-wave activity (SWA) as a measure of sleep pressure in ASD.
  • To determine if altered SWA contributes to sleep disturbances in ASD.

Main Methods:

  • A case-control study comparing children with ASD and typically developing children.
  • Overnight electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings during Polysomnography (PSG).
  • Analysis of slow-wave activity (SWA) power and slopes.

Main Results:

  • Children with ASD had significantly weaker SWA power and shallower SWA slopes.
  • A decreased proportion of slow-wave sleep was observed in children with ASD.
  • Reduced SWA was correlated with later sleep onset times in ASD.

Conclusions:

  • Children with ASD may experience dysregulated sleep homeostasis with reduced sleep pressure.
  • SWA amplitude reflects the severity of sleep disturbances in individual children with ASD.
  • Disrupted homeostatic sleep regulation likely contributes to sleep problems in ASD.
Abstract

Keywords:
Autism Spectrum DisorderEEGsleep disorderssleep homeostasisslow-wave activity

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