Children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) in Bangladesh were found to be highly likely to have sleep disturbances in a recent study. It also stressed the importance of parental education and support programs to help families of children with special needs.
The study was conducted by researchers from several institutes from Bangladesh, and those from China, Iran, Sweden, and USA. The reason behind undertaking this story was to find out the prevalence of sleep problems in middle- and low-income countries. It comprised 446 participants aged between 3 and 8, out of whom 151 had ASD 295 were typically developing children.
Among the entire cross-section of the participants, the prevalence of sleep problems was found to be 89.7%. However, when only children with ASD were considered, the prevalence rate rose to 94% while that for typically developing children was 87.5%. ASD affected children also fared worse on factors like sleep duration, sleep anxiety, night waking, parasomnias, and sleep-disordered breathing.
In their conclusion, the authors wrote, “Early screening and diagnosis of sleep problems and their potential underpinnings may enable interventions aimed at mitigating the adverse consequences of sleep disorders while contributing to increasing the quality of life of the children and their families.”
