Stronger Associations Between Sleep and Mental Health in Adults with Autism: A UK Biobank Study.
Lisa M Henderson, M St Clair, V Knowland and 3 others
PMID 34860312WHAT IT FOUND
Sleep problems were not more common in adults with autism than matched controls.
However, when sleep efficiency was poor, mental health and wellbeing suffered much more severely in the autism group. This suggests adults with autism are more sensitive to the impact of poor sleep.
Key findings
01Adults with autism did not report sleeping less, nor did actigraphy show significant differences in sleep duration or night activity compared to matched controls.
02Sleep efficiency was marginally lower in the autism group, with a significant difference observed specifically in females.
03Associations between objective sleep measures and psychological wellbeing or lifetime mental distress were significantly stronger in adults with autism than in the general population.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted of adults with ASD who were largely employed and had age-expected cognitive abilities, so findings may not generalize to those with intellectual disability or higher support needs. ASD diagnoses were based on self-report without confirmation of symptom severity or age of diagnosis. The objective sleep analysis had a small sample size (83 with ASD), limiting statistical power for detecting subtle effects. The study is cross-sectional and correlational, so it cannot determine whether poor sleep causes mental health issues or vice versa.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that adults with autism sleep worse than the general population. The study found no significant difference in sleep duration or quality between the groups. The key finding is not that sleep is poorer, but that the same level of poor sleep has a much stronger negative impact on mental health in adults with autism.