0984 Sleep, Anxiety, Depression, and Demand for Wearables in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder versus Controls

Introduction Sleep difficulties are common in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) populations. While much literature exists on sleep difficulties in ASD children, there is relatively scant research on adults. ASD is frequently co-morbid with symptoms of anxiety or depression, which are independently related to sleep problems. Personalized feedback from wearables may appeal to ASD adults looking to improve their sleep. This study examined sleep quality and severity of anxiety/depression in ASD adults with comorbid anxiety/depression and matched controls and establish demand for information about sleep from wearables in each group. Methods Participants were recruited through Prolific; 100 ASD adults with anxiety/depression and 100 matched controls with anxiety/depression completed the survey. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), General Anxiety Scale (GAD-7), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10), and a task to establish demand for wearables that provide sleep or blood oxygenation information. Student’s t-tests and Cohen’s d examined between-group differences. Pearson's chi-squared test (χ²) examined differences between expected and observed frequencies of GAD-7 categories and poor sleepers (PSQI ≥ 5) between groups. Results Participants in the ASD group had higher anxiety (t=3.42, d=0.47, p=0.001) and depression (t=3.23, d=.45, p=0.001) than controls. Bad sleepers had higher anxiety (t=5.20, d=0.99, p< 0.001) and depression (t=5.17, d=0.98, p< 0.001) than good sleepers. Individuals in the autistic group had higher frequencies of moderate or severe anxiety than expected (χ²=12.90, p=0.05); control participants had lower frequencies of poor sleepers than expected (χ²=3.19, p=0.07). Both groups demonstrated more robust demand for sleep data than blood oxygenation data. ASD participants had more robust demand than matched controls for any wearable data. Conclusion ASD participants may have a higher burden of mental health and sleep issues relative to controls. The effect sizes suggest that self-report sleep quality was more strongly related to self-report depression and anxiety than autism diagnosis status. The demand task offers a novel framework to examine interest in potential sleep solutions in adult populations with co-morbid mental health diagnoses. ASD participants may have a greater interest in data from wearables; next steps will explore whether feedback from wearables can improve sleep in an adult ASD population. Support (if any) NA