# Sleep, Brain Development, and Behavioral Correlates in a Longitudinal Cohort of Children at Risk for ASD

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2024 · $48,385

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Title: Sleep, Brain Development, and Behavioral Correlates in a Longitudinal Cohort of Children at Risk
for ASD
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are 2-3 times more likely to suffer from sleep problems than
typically developing children. Despite being a high priority population for sleep research, and despite evidence
that sleep problems have pervasive negative consequences for health, behavior, mood, and cognition, the
increased occurrence and clinical impact of sleep problems in individuals with a family history of ASD is not
well understood. This major public health concern is the focus of our application, “Sleep, Brain Development,
and Behavioral Correlates in a Longitudinal Cohort of Children at High-Risk for ASD”. Problems with sleep
initiation, circadian timing, and inadequate amount of sleep in a high familial risk (HR) cohort of school-age
children are hypothesized to be preceded by altered brain and behavioral development in early childhood.
This proposal leverages a recently funded longitudinal follow-up of school-age (7-12-year-old) HR children
and children with low familial risk for ASD (LR) who have had multiple MRI and behavior assessments since
infancy through the NIH Autism Center of Excellence Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS). This sample of 300
HR children includes ~100 diagnosed with ASD at 24 months, ~200 without a diagnosis of ASD but with
outcomes ranging from typical development to developmental and psychiatric disorders known to occur at
high rates in siblings of children with ASD, and 100 LR children currently returning for assessment, including
MRI, during school age. A biopsychosocial model of pediatric sleep problems predicts that some combination
of biological, environmental, behavioral and psychiatric factors will account for the increased prevalence of
sleep problems in ASD, but it is unknown whether sleep problems are familial, endophenotypic, or disorder-
specific in this population. We propose to: (1) characterize circadian disturbances, sleep duration, and other
sleep parameters in the home using actigraphy, validated by sleep diary, and through parent report of
behavioral and medical sleep problems, (2) examine brain growth trajectories (from infancy) associated with
sleep problems in school-age, and (3) examine the longitudinal behavioral and developmental trajectories
and concurrent behavior associated with sleep problems in school-age. Increased understanding of the
neurobiology and developmental characteristics of sleep problems in ASD has important implications for
developing novel, developmentally-sensitive sleep interventions which may help to reduce behavioral and
health problems exacerbated by sleep problems and improve outcomes in this vulnerable population.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11010578
- **Project number:** 3R01HD101578-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Annette Estes
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $48,385
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2021-05-03 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11010578

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11010578, Sleep, Brain Development, and Behavioral Correlates in a Longitudinal Cohort of Children at Risk for ASD (3R01HD101578-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11010578. Licensed CC0.

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