Sleep Problems and 6-Sulfatoxymelatonin as Possible Predictors of Symptom Severity, Adaptive and Maladaptive Behavior in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Kristina Bartakovicova, Petra Kemenyova, Ivan Belica, Zofia Janik Szapuova, Katarina Stebelova, Iveta Waczulikova, Daniela Ostatnikova and Katarina Babinska
Additional contact information
Kristina Bartakovicova: Academic Research Centre for Autism, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia
Petra Kemenyova: Academic Research Centre for Autism, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia
Ivan Belica: Academic Research Centre for Autism, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia
Zofia Janik Szapuova: Academic Research Centre for Autism, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia
Katarina Stebelova: Department of Animal Physiology and Ethology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia
Iveta Waczulikova: Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovakia
Daniela Ostatnikova: Academic Research Centre for Autism, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia
Katarina Babinska: Academic Research Centre for Autism, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University, 813 72 Bratislava, Slovakia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), sleep disturbances are a frequent comorbidity with an adverse effect on their behavior and functioning. It was suggested that melatonin deficit is at least partly responsible for the sleep problems. The study aimed to investigate, in a sample of 56 children with ASD aged 2.8–13.3 years, if the sleep problems and melatonin secretion can serve as predictors of adaptive functioning and severity of the ASD core symptoms. We demonstrated that, after adjustment for age, the Sleep score assessed by the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire predicts the Adaptive behavior composite score only in children younger than 6 years, and the preferred predictive model is for the domain Socialization. The age-adjusted Sleep score predicted Externalizing and Internalizing maladaptive behavior, with a near-zero contribution of age to the relationship between the Internalizing maladaptive behavior and Sleep score. After adjustment for age, the reduced night-time melatonin secretion predicted a higher severity of ASD symptoms in the domain Social affect and the Calibrated Severity Score, but not the sleep problems. Our results emphasize the importance of assessing sleep problems as a modifiable predictor of behavior in children with ASD and support the hypothesis about the role of melatonin in pathophysiology of ASD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; children; core symptoms; sleep problems; melatonin; adaptive functioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7594/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7594/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:7594-:d:844178

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().