Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Introduction Children with autism (CWA) experience a high frequency of sleep disorders, which impact their well-being and development. Polysomnography faces challenges due to sensory sensitivities and communication difficulties in CWA. Therefore, sleep questionnaires play a critical role in gathering comprehensive information about sleep patterns and disturbances, potentially aiding in the identification of sleep disorders. The diagnostic potential of questionnaires could facilitate earlier access to tailored interventions for CWA, promoting enhanced sleep quality and better overall health outcomes. Methods Caregivers of patients aged 1 to 21 years referred to Rady Children’s Hospital Sleep Center, San Diego, CA, completed the San Diego Sleep Survey (SDSS) via the Epic® EMR system. CWA were identified using diagnostic codes (ICD-9/10). Additionally, surveys were collected from children without sleep complaints (control) at San Ysidro Children’s Dental Center and Chula Vista Medical Plaza. The SDSS, a 51-item scale, employed a 4-item Likert-type scale (Never, Sometimes, Usually, Do Not Know) for graded insights into sleep problems. Five domain scores assessed pediatric sleep problems: insomnia, sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), sleep disorder (e.g., parasomnia), sleep hygiene, and daytime symptoms (DS). A subset also completed the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire (PSQ) and Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) for comparative purposes. Results 2103 patients completed SDSS (age 8.6±4.8). Of these, 241 CWA were identified (age 8.2±4.7; 64 females 27%). Compared to controls (n=135, age 9.4±2.4), CWA had significantly better hygiene scores (9.3±2.3 vs 9.9±2.3, p=0.03), higher insomnia scores (17.1±4.4 vs 12.9±3.3, p 0.01), higher SDB scores (18.4±6.2 vs 13.8±6.1, p 0.01) and higher DS scores (31.5±7.0 vs 19.5±5.9, p 0.01). 89 CWA completed the PSQ which identified 71 children (81%) with a positive SDB score (PSQ Total Score ≥8) compared to 189 children (65%) with a positive SBD score on SDSS. Forty-eight CWA completed the CSHQ; and all patients had a positive score (CSHQ Total Score ≥41). Conclusion The SDSS is a viable method for evaluating sleep disturbance in CWA, recognizing abnormalities in various domains. Future analyses will compare SDSS to PSQ and CSHQ to assess convergent validity for screening for sleep disorders. Additionally, sensitivity/specificity analyses of SDSS compared to the gold-standard of polysomnography will be explored. Support (if any)
Warner et al. (Sat,) studied this question.