Gastrointestinal and Sleep Disorders in Children With and Without Autism.

Abstract

This study aimed to describe a subgroup of children with autism, ages 3-17, referred for polysomnography, and the types and frequency of clinical encounters for gastrointestinal (GI) diagnoses that may contribute to sleep problems in a sample of children ages 3-17 with and without the diagnosis of autism; report gastrointestinal disorders and their associations with sleep disorders in this population; and report gastrointestinal disorders most predictive of sleep disorders in children with and without autism. The authors conducted a secondary data analysis of the de-identified Nationwide Children's Hospital Sleep DataBank encounters with children referred for polysomnography. Descriptive statistics described a sample of 3053 unique participants (M = 7.26 years) between 2017 and 2019. In children with autism, gastrointestinal disorders were prevalent. Chi-square statistics revealed an association between having autism and sleep disorders. Outcomes of multiple regression revealed that constipation, diarrhea, and nausea/vomiting predicted sleep problems in children with autism greater than those in children without autism. Findings support the increased presence of co-occurring GI symptoms and sleep problems in children with autism and the need for sleep evaluation in children with gastrointestinal symptoms. Further investigation of the gut-brain interaction in children with autism is needed.