AUTISM - AREA EXPLORED

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neuro-developmental disorder that is characterised by persistent deficits in social communication, social interaction and restricted repetitive and stereotyped behaviour, interests, and activities . The  prevalence rate of  autism is 1 in 166 to 1 in 500 (centre of disease control),commonly comes with co-mobrid conditions which include sleep disorders   reported along with increased bed time resistance,insomnia,sleep disordered breathing and daytime sleepiness that primarily results in impaired memory and lack of alertness that affects children with ASD.Attention on ASD has been rapidly increasing due to the fact that for the past 40 years its prevalence has been steadily rising worldwide. Polysomonography studies  show that children having ASD have altered sleep architecture affecting cognitive performances ,underlying causes to sleep disorders with ASD are found in higher rate with gastrointestinal problems.This articles stresses  the importance of  medicating ASD with almost care taking into account all the possible criteria.

SLEEP DISORDERS IN AUTISM :

Sleep disorders are among the many comorbid conditions present in ASDs .Self-administered child sleep questionnaires completed by parents show that possibly even up to 86% of these children have at least one sleep problem almost every day [4]. A study by Liu et al. on sleep problems in children with ASD showed that 54% had problems with bedtime resistance, 56% with insomnia, 53% with para-somnias, 25% with sleep disordered breathing, 45% with morning rise problems, and 31% with daytime sleepiness . Sleep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle being linked with many physiological processes such as wound healing, immune system functioning, metabolite clearance of the brain, ontogenesis, memory processes, and others . The importance of sleep is especially highlighted by the lack or impairment thereof. A lack of sleep or decreased quality of sleep have been reported in numerous studies to be associated with multiple adverse health effects such as arterial hypertension, diabetes/impaired glucose metabolism, obesity, depression, as well as impaired neurobehavioral performance.Sleep problems may significantly influence the cause and/or exacerbate the core disease of ASD if left untreated. A study by Schreck et al. found that fewer hours of sleep per night predicted overall autism scores and social skills deficits. Similarly, stereotypic behavior was predicted by fewer hours of sleep per night and screaming during the night. Increased sensitivity to environmental stimuli in the bedroom and screaming at night predicted communication problems . Most recently, a study by Tessier et al. noted that children with ASD had lower sleep spindle density which had a significant correlation with cognitive performance . Sleep problems not only affect the child’s health and behavior but as well as the parent’s (and quite possibly other family members). Problematic sleep in children with ASD has been associated with higher levels of parental stress which in turn may have an effect on subsequent care of the child .Unfortunately, sleep problems are commonly underdiagnosed, underappreciated, undertreated. The road to diagnosing sleep problems is equally problematic and filled with roadblocks. For one, the very nature of ASD greatly increases the difficulty of a diagnostic approach. Verbal communication with children affected by ASD can range from difficult to nearly impossible.Unlike normally developing children, they cannot simply state what they are feeling or going through. Because of this, clinicians as well as parents have to be aware of other clues that may point to underlying causes of these sleep problems.