Nonrapid eye movement sleep and risk for autism spectrum disorder in early development: A topographical electroencephalogram pilot study.

Jessica Page,Flavio Frӧhlich,Caroline Lustenberger

doi:10.1002/brb3.1557

Jessica Page, Flavio Frӧhlich + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1557

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Abstract

ObjectiveAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that emerges in the beginning years of life (12–48 months). Yet, an early diagnosis of ASD is challenging as it relies on the consistent presence of behavioral symptomatology, and thus, many children are diagnosed later in development, which prevents early interventions that could benefit cognitive and social outcomes. As a result, there is growing interest in detecting early brain markers of ASD, such as in the electroencephalogram (EEG) to elucidate divergence in early development. Here, we examine the EEG of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in the transition from infancy to toddlerhood, a period of rapid development and pronounced changes in early brain function. NREM features exhibit clear developmental trajectories, are related to social and cognitive development, and may be altered in neurodevelopmental disorders. Yet, spectral features of NREM sleep are poorly understood in infants/toddlers with or at high risk for ASD.MethodsThe present pilot study is the first to examine NREM sleep in 13‐ to 30‐month‐olds with ASD in comparison with age‐matched healthy controls (TD). EEG was recorded during a daytime nap with high‐density array EEG.ResultsWe found topographically distinct decreased fast theta oscillations (5–7.25 Hz), decreased fast sigma (15–16 Hz), and increased beta oscillations (20–25 Hz) in ASD compared to TD.ConclusionThese findings suggest a possible functional role of NREM sleep during this important developmental period and provide support for NREM sleep to be a potential early marker for ASD.

Highlights

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder with impairments in social communication and restricted/repetitive behaviors DSM-V (2013), and with increased familial risk upwards to 20% (Ozonoff et al, 2011)
These findings suggest a possible functional role of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep during this important developmental period and provide support for NREM sleep to be a potential early marker for ASD
Future research is needed to examine features of NREM sleep in ASD as well as across various categories of developmental delay (DD) and other populations with genetic variations of ASD

Summary

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder with impairments in social communication and restricted/repetitive behaviors DSM-V (2013), and with increased familial risk upwards to 20% (Ozonoff et al, 2011). Brain oscillations investigated with electroencephalogram (EEG) within nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, such as sleep spindles and slow waves, reflect anatomical and physiological features of brain circuits, and might provide a window to detect alterations in brain development (Buchmann et al, 2010; Ringli & Huber, 2011) These NREM features have been associated with anatomical substrates and with behavioral outcomes such as intelligence (Geiger, Huber, Kurth, & Ringli, 2011), visual perception (Bang, Khalilzadeh, Hämäläinen, Watanabe, & Sasaki, 2014), memory (Chatburn et al, 2013; Fogel, Fogel, Nader, Cote, & Smith, 2007), motor skills (Kurth et al, 2012; Lustenberger et al, 2017), language, social, and cognitive functioning in typical development (Page, Lustenberger, & Frohlich, 2018). Investigating spectral features of NREM sleep may provide clues to capture divergence in early brain development (Clawson, Durkin, & Aton, 2016; Farmer et al, 2018)

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