Cross Sectional Study on Sleep Disorders for Autistic Children in Anhui Province of China

Abstract Objectives Sleep disorder is an important adverse factor affecting the prognosis of children with autism. This study focuses on the condition of sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorder and its association to severity. Participants and methods: The Anhui disabled people' Federation has listed 153 autism training facilities. Half of them (5508 kids) are chosen using odd and even codes between the ages of 1 and 8 years. 1377 autistic kids in total were chosen at random for the questionnaire survey using a 1:4 (numerical code). The Children's Sleep Habit Questionnaire (CSHQ), the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) were looked into and assessed, respectively. Results A total of 1072 valid questionnaires were received, including 818 boys and 254 girls, with a male to female ratio of 3.22:1. A total of 98.60% of the kids, 568 kids (98.1%) in the mild to moderate ASD group, and 489 kids (99.18%) in the severe ASD group, reported having sleep issues. The overall mean CSHQ score for the entire sample was 51.57±7.16, with the severe group reporting higher scores than the mild to moderate group (51.58±8.05 vs 49.52±7.69, p<0.001). Similarly, subscales of CSHQ such as sleep on set delay (7.80 ± 1.61 vs 7.58 ± 1.52, p = 0.027), sleep resistance (3.69 ± 1.12 vs 3.40 ± 1.15, p < 0.001), sleep duration (6.27 ± 1.25 vs 6.03 ± 1.08, p = 0.001), sleep anxiety (4.21 ± 1.54 vs 3.99 ± 1.52, p = 0.019) and night waking (5.33 ± 1.82 vs 4.85 ± 1.55, p < 0.001) were more problematic among severe group compared to mild to moderate group. According to regression research, the type of caregiver and their educational background have an impact on the severity of sleep disturbances. Sleep difficulties are always negatively correlated with nurturing environment, whereas wake-up times are the contrary. Conclusions The high likelihood of sleep disturbances in Chinese ASD children calls for the urgent adoption of parental education and social support programs to lessen the effects of sleep issues in ASD families. Important risk variables that affect sleep disorders and the severity of autism include wake-up time, caregiver, and nurturing environment. ASD children's sleep quality may be dramatically improved by encouraging fathers to participate in sleep instruction, creating a healthy nurturing environment, and cutting back on wake-up time.