01-01-2008 | Original Paper | Uitgave 1/2008
Sleep in Children with Asperger Syndrome
- Tijdschrift:
-
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
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Uitgave 1/2008
- Auteurs:
- E. Juulia Paavonen, Kimmo Vehkalahti, Raija Vanhala, Lennart von Wendt, Taina Nieminen-von Wendt, Eeva T. Aronen
Abstract
The prevalence of sleep disturbances in 52 children with Asperger syndrome (AS) as compared with 61 healthy controls (all subjects aged 5–17 years) was investigated. Problems with sleep onset and maintenance, sleep-related fears, negative attitudes toward sleeping, and daytime somnolence were more frequent among children with AS than among controls. Short sleep duration (<9 h) was almost twofold (59% vs. 32%), and the risk for sleep onset problems more than fivefold (53% vs. 10%) more common in the AS group than in the control group. Child-reported sleeping problems were also more prevalent in the AS group than in controls (58% vs. 7%). The results suggest that sleep disturbances should be routinely evaluated in children with AS.