Imperial College London
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ProfessorAdamHampshire

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences

Visiting Professor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7993a.hampshire

 
 
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Location

 

Burlington DanesHammersmith Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Stewart:2020:10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101633,
author = {Stewart, GR and Corbett, A and Ballard, C and Creese, B and Aarsland, D and Hampshire, A and Charlton, RA and Happé, F},
doi = {10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101633},
journal = {Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders},
title = {Sleep problems and mental health difficulties in older adults who endorse high autistic traits},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101633},
volume = {77},
year = {2020}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background: Sleep problems and mental health difficulties are common in autistic children and young adults. However, these problems have seldom been studied in older autistic adults, or in older adults with elevated autistic traits. Method: Cross-sectional data was examined from 13,897 adults aged 50–81 years taking part in the PROTECT study, who reported whether they experienced persistent socio-communicative autistic traits. Approximately 1%, 187 individuals, were identified as endorsing high autistic traits in childhood and currently, henceforth ‘Autism Spectrum Trait’ (AST) group. An age- and gender-matched comparison group was formed of 6740 individuals who endorsed no autistic traits, henceforth ‘Control Older Adults’ (COA) group. Differences between AST and COA groups were explored in self-reported sleep behaviors, and in depression and anxiety symptoms. Results: AST and COA groups reported similar sleep duration and depth, and nighttime waking frequency. However, the AST group reported significantly more problems with falling asleep, morning drowsiness, and lower sleep quality/satisfaction than COA. More AST adults reported sleep problems past cut-off, as well as clinical levels of depression and anxiety, compared to COA. Adults in both groups who met criteria for high sleep problems experienced more mental health difficulties than those with few sleep problems. However, even amongst those without depression/anxiety, the AST group reported more sleep problems than the COA. Conclusions: These associations suggest that older adults with high autistic traits, like diagnosed autistic children/young adults, may experience poorer sleep and more mental health difficulties than those with low autistic traits. Further work is needed to see whether these results extend to older individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for autism.
AU  - Stewart,GR
AU  - Corbett,A
AU  - Ballard,C
AU  - Creese,B
AU  - Aarsland,D
AU  - Hampshire,A
AU  - Charlton,RA
AU  - Happé,F
DO  - 10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101633
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 1750-9467
TI  - Sleep problems and mental health difficulties in older adults who endorse high autistic traits
T2  - Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101633
VL  - 77
ER  -
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