Association between autism spectrum disorder and sleep duration in relation to post-traumatic stress disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with a high risk of psychiatric complications, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ASD and PTSD are known to be associated with sleep disturbance. Because participants with ASD and/or PTSD possess social anxiety tendencies, which made it impossible to acquire accurate data through face-to-face interviews, a web-based cross-sectional study of 3823 participants was conducted. Among participants without PTSD, short sleep but not long sleep was revealed to be positively associated with ASD; whereas among those with PTSD, no significant association between short sleep and ASD but a significant positive association between long sleep and ASD was observed. Among the participants without PTSD, the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were 1.66 (1.22, 2.28) for short sleepers and 1.70 (0.89, 3.14) for long sleepers, respectively; among those with PTSD, the corresponding values were 0.73 (0.40, 1.31) and 3.28 (1.51, 7.10), respectively. The presence of PTSD might determine the association between sleep duration and ASD. Among participants with ASD, longer sleepers may have a higher risk of psychological problems than do short sleepers.