Sleep determines quality of life in autistic adults: A longitudinal study.
Marie K Deserno, Denny Borsboom, Sander Begeer and 3 others
PMID 30969026WHAT IT FOUND
Sleep problems that interfere with daily functioning were the strongest predictor of later subjective quality of life in autistic adults.
For daily activity levels, feeling unable to contribute to society and psychological comorbidities were the key predictors.
Key findings
01Sleep problems that interfere with daily functioning were the most important predictor for different response values on subjective quality of life over time.
02The subjective quality of life decision nodes were sleep interference, number of comorbid psychological diagnoses, and social satisfaction.
03For objective quality of life, perceived societal contribution was the most important predictor of level of daily activities, followed by number of psychological comorbidities.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was observational, so it cannot show that sleep problems, low perceived societal contribution, or comorbid diagnoses caused lower quality of life or lower activity levels. Diagnosis and IQ were mostly self-reported in an online register, and the researchers could not directly verify all diagnoses or cognitive ability. The analysis used only 25 predictors with less than 40% missing values, and IQ data had 40% missingness. Not all predictors were measured at the same time point, and the authors note other predictors may exist. The sample included adults aged 17 to 83 years, and the authors note employment may work differently at different ages. The authors note that the findings need replication in an independent sample.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. Funding included an ERC Consolidator Grant to Denny Borsboom, an NWO VICI Grant to Hilde Geurts, and a ZonMW grant supporting the project.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that treating sleep problems will improve quality of life. The study was observational and did not test any intervention.