24099
Decreased Slow-Wave Activity in Sleeping Children with Autism

Friday, May 12, 2017: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM
Golden Gate Ballroom (Marriott Marquis Hotel)
A. Arazi1,2, A. Tarasiuk3,4, L. Manelis5,6, G. Meiri6 and I. Dinstein5,7,8, (1)Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheba, Israel, (2)Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel, (3)Sleep-Wake Disorders Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel, (4)Department of Physiology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, (5)Department of Psychology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, (6)Pre-School Psychiatry Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-Sheva, Israel, (7)Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel, (8)Zlotowski center for neuroscience, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Background:

Sleep abnormalities are prominent in children with autism as demonstrated by studies using parent questionnaires and/or assessments of sleep architecture (e.g., reports of reduced REM sleep durations in autism). Very few studies, however, have examined EEG spectral properties in overnight recordings from young children with autism. Slow-wave sleep refers to the deep sleep stages (S3 and S4 of non-REM sleep), which can be quantified using EEG by examining slow-wave activity (SWA, in the 0.75- to 4.5-Hz range). The amplitude of SWA is a marker of the pressure to sleep: it is large during sleep onset and decreases in magnitude throughout the night. Previous studies have reported that reduced SWA power is associated with diverse cognitive impairments. Here, we compared SWA in retrospective polysomnography (PSG) exams of children with and without autism.

Objectives:  N/A

Methods:

We identified PSG recordings of 11 children with autism (5.1 ±2 years old), 11 control children with no sleep apnea (5.5 ±1.9), and 10 children with mild obstructive sleep apnea (5.5 ±2). All PSGs were performed at the Soroka Sleep-Wake Disorders Unit between 2008 and 2012. PSG's were re-scored blindly by one of the investigators (A.T). We then computed the relative and absolute SWA in addition to EEG power in the Delta (1-4Hz), Theta (4-8Hz), Alpha (8-13Hz) and Beta (13-20Hz) frequency bands for each sleep stage.

Results:

Children with autism had significantly lower Delta power and larger Beta power during N2, N3, and REM sleep compared to both control groups. SWA was significantly reduced in the autism group throughout the night. In addition, we found that children with autism spent relatively less time in REM sleep than the two control groups.

Conclusions:

Children with autism exhibit significantly smaller magnitudes of SWA, which have previously been associated with cognitive problems in, for example, children with apnea. Additional research is necessary for determining whether cognitive and social impairments in children with autism are associated with these sleep abnormalities.

See more of: Brain Function (fMRI, fcMRI, MRS, EEG, ERP, MEG) II
See more of: Brain Function (fMRI, fcMRI, MRS, EEG, ERP, MEG)