Secretin and sleep in children with autism

Abstract

The objectives of this pilot study were 1) to examine possible effects of secretin infusions on sleep-wake state organization in children with autism, and 2) to assess the feasibility of home recordings using time-lapse videosomnography in children with autism. Participants were a subset of subjects from two double blind, placebo-control, multi-center clinical trials. One trial, the UC Irvine study, assessed the effects of porcine secretin vs. saline infusions on children's behavior, language and IQ. The UC Davis trial assessed the effects of synthetic human secretin vs. saline infusions on behavior, language and gastrointestinal function. The sleep study enrolled some of the children from each of the two trials to observe possible secretin effects on sleep. To examine sleep, the UC Irvine trial used the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire and daily sleep diaries, whereas the UC Davis study used home-recorded time-lapse videosomnography. Because of the small sample size, the results from both trials are preliminary. They suggest that secretin, porcine or synthetic, does not improve sleep-wake state organization dramatically.

Figure 1a

The Research Design for the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Study (1a) Portrays a Double Blind Crossover Study with Each Subject Serving as Its Own Control (n = 17) Note: The Children’s Sleep Habit Questionnaire was administered on 3 occasions, prior to infusion 1, 4 weeks later prior to infusion 2 and 4 weeks later at follow-up. The Sleep Diary (SD) was completed twice for 2-week intervals immediately following Infusions #1 and #2.

Figure 1b

The Research Design for the University of California, Davis (UCD) Study (n = 6) Note: Figure 1b portrays a double blind secretin-placebo (control) group study. Videosomnography was obtained on 4 consecutive nights (2 nights pre-infusion and 2 nights post-infusion) around each of the first 2 infusions.

Figure 2

Number of Night Wakings, UC Davis Study Note. The number of arousals/awakenings are increased following each of the two secretin infusions compared to the placebo infusions (Mean ± s.d.).

Figure 3

Longest Sleep Period, UC Davis Study Note: The Longest Sleep Period (LSP) in minutes decreases following each of the two secretin infusions compared to the placebo infusions (Mean ± s.d.).