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Alterations in Cortisol Profiles among Mothers of Children with ASD Related to Poor Child Sleep Quality

Bin Eid, Wasmiah; Lim, Mengyu; Gabrieli, Giulio; Kölbel, Melanie; Halstead, Elizabeth; Esposito, Gianluca; Dimitriou, Dagmara; (2022) Alterations in Cortisol Profiles among Mothers of Children with ASD Related to Poor Child Sleep Quality. Healthcare , 10 (4) , Article 666. 10.3390/healthcare10040666. Green open access

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Abstract

Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience poorer sleep, but studies have not yet used objective measures to investigate how child and caregiver sleep affect each other. In this study, 29 mothers and their child with ASD aged between 6 and 16 years were recruited. Questionnaires measuring child autism, maternal depression, and maternal and child sleep quality were administered. Cortisol salivary samples were also obtained from the mothers over the course of a day. Results revealed that maternal depression is significantly correlated with their subjective sleep quality, sleep latency and daytime dysfunction. Child sleep quality was also found to be significantly correlated with ASD severity. In terms of maternal cortisol profiles, a significant number of mothers showed a flattened diurnal cortisol expression, and children of mothers with a flattened cortisol profile had significantly more sleep problems. Overall, results suggest that maternal and child sleep are affected by the child’s disability but also are mutually related. Future studies may consider employing measures such as actigraphy or somnography to quantify sleep quality and establish causal pathways between sleep, cortisol expression and caregiver and child outcomes. The present study has clinical implications in examining family sleep when considering treatment for ASD.

Type: Article
Title: Alterations in Cortisol Profiles among Mothers of Children with ASD Related to Poor Child Sleep Quality
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare10040666
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10040666
Language: English
Additional information: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: autism; ASD; sleep; maternal sleep; child sleep; cortisol
UCL classification: UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10146784
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