Study objectives: Nocturnal polysomnography (PSG) is an essential diagnostic technique to assess sleep abnormalities, including sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Although low in invasiveness, it is extremely difficult to conduct PSG with children who are not cooperative with wearing electrodes and sensors. Particularly, it is difficult to conduct PSG on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) because they have poor predictive ability, exhibit extreme anxiety about novel and unfamiliar things, and have difficulty understanding verbal instructions. Recently, the usefulness of psychological preparation was reported. The primary aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of psychological preparation for PSG.
Methods: The goal of our study was to assess the usefulness of psychological preparation for PSG. A total of 253 children were enrolled in the study: 131 in the control group (19 with ASD) and 122 selected for psychological preparation (51 with ASD).
Results: In the preparation group, 110 of 122 (90.2%) could undergo regular PSG, a significantly higher percentage than the control group at 104 of 131 (79.4%), P = .018. Regarding hypnotic drugs, in the preparation group 111 of 122 (91.0%) underwent PSG without hypnotic drugs, which was a significantly higher percentage than in the control group at 107 of 131 (81.7%), P = .032. Additionally, 45 of 51 children with ASD in the preparation group (88.2%) could undergo PSG without hypnotic drugs.
Conclusions: This study indicated that psychological preparation was effective in facilitating PSG without hypnotic drugs in children who have difficulty cooperating with PSG, including those with ASD.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; children; polysomnography; psychological preparation.
© 2020 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.