Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly suffer from sleep problems at a higher rate than typically developing (TD) children. Several previous studies have reported differences in sleep indices (e.g., sleep latency) in children with ASD. However, no previous studies have focused specifically on the time course of body movements. In the present study, we investigated the time course of body movements in young TD children and young children with ASD as well as the relationship between body movements during night and social ability. Seventeen TD children and 17 children with ASD participated in this study (5 to 8 years old). We used an accelerometer attached to the waist to record movements during night and measured the average time course of body movements for 3 nights. Our results demonstrated that the rate of body movement 2 to 3 hours after the onset of body stillness was higher in children with ASD than in TD children. In addition, the higher rate of body movement at 0.5 to 1 hour after the onset of body stillness was associated with a lower social ability in the children with ASD. Our results suggested that the time course of body movements is an objective behavioural index for young children with ASD.
Highlights
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comprises a set of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in social communication and restrictive and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests and activities[1]
Given that body movements are less frequent during deep sleep and more frequent during light sleep[22], the repeating patterns of decreasing and increasing body movements demonstrated in the present study reflect the repeating cycles of deep and light sleep in young children
Our results demonstrated that the latency to the first peak of body movement tended to be shorter in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than in typically developing (TD) children, suggesting that REM latency tends to be shorter in children with ASD than in TD children and suggesting an immature sleep-related brain system in children with ASD
Summary
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comprises a set of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in social communication and restrictive and repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests and activities[1]. To highlight the need for additional evidence demonstrating the relationship between social ability and the quality of sleep, only two reports involving young children with ASD have been published using objective methods (i.e., PSG). No reports involving young children with ASD have been published on the relationship between social ability and the quality of sleep measured by actigraphy. No previous studies have focused on the precise time course of body movements after the onset of body stillness in the bed in young children with ASD (e.g., at what time point do they move more after the onset of body stillness in the bed, which can be evaluated using raw time-series data) using accelerometers or its relationship with symptom severity. We used a wristwatch-like accelerometer attached to the waist (Fig. 1A) to continuously record movements during night
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