Sleep Disturbances and Co-sleeping in Italian Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Serena Scarpelli, Deny Menghini, Valentina Alfonsi and 7 others
PMID 39115746WHAT IT FOUND
Sleep problems affected one-third of children with autism, with difficulty falling or staying asleep being the most common.
Higher IQ, anxiety, and parental stress predicted these issues. Co-sleeping was very frequent but did not correlate with sleep disorder severity.
Key findings
01Approximately 33% of participants had a clinically relevant global score for sleep disorders, with disorders of initiating and maintaining sleep being the most common (41%).
02Higher IQ/DQ, greater internalizing problems, and higher parental stress were significant predictors of the presence of sleep disorders.
03In the co-sleeping subgroup, 59.6% shared a bed with parents. Co-sleepers were younger and had lower IQ and adaptive functioning than non-co-sleepers, but there was no difference in total sleep disorder scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study lacked a typically developing control group, making it difficult to compare sleep parameters directly against the general population. Sleep was assessed via parental report (SDSC) without objective measures like actigraphy or polysomnography, which limits the ability to distinguish between insomnia and delayed sleep phase disorder. Co-sleeping was only assessed in a subset of participants (146 out of 242), and the question was added later in the study period. The use of three different versions of the SDSC for different age groups prevented the analysis of sleep disorder subscales as continuous variables, limiting the depth of the sleep analysis. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality between predictors (like parental stress) and sleep disorders.
Declared interests
The study was funded by Sapienza Università di Roma, Ministero della Salute, and Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza. No specific conflicts of interest for the authors were reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that co-sleeping causes or worsens sleep disorders. The study found no difference in sleep disorder scores between co-sleepers and non-co-sleepers, suggesting co-sleeping may be a family strategy to manage other challenges rather than a direct contributor to poor sleep quality in this group.
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