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Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face several challenges in the healthcare setting. This study defines the challenges experienced by children with autism in hospitals in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire for guardians of autistic children in outpatient clinics, autism support groups, and rehabilitation centers. A total of 199 participants were included. The medical procedures causing the most anxiety to children were injections and getting their blood drawn (68.3%), vital sign measurement (41.6%), and height and weight measurement (37.8%). Long waiting hours (44.1%), increased sensory stimuli (33.2%), and overcrowding of hospital staff (27.9%) were stress-inducing in the healthcare environment. The guardians recommended that loud noises (44.7%), crowdedness (41.2%), and long waiting hours (42.1%) be avoided. The nonverbal children experienced significantly higher levels (p < 0.001) of agitation, irritability, and outbursts during doctor visits than their verbal counterparts. The children with intellectual disabilities were more tense and unresponsive during doctor visits (33.3%) than their intellectually able counterparts, who more frequently were calm and responsive (44.9%) during visits. Most patients with ASD face hardships during hospital visits. Nonverbal patients and those with intellectual disabilities have a higher tendency for hospital setting anxiety-induced outbursts, which may be eased by avoiding loud noise and overcrowding.
RESUMO
Background It is possible to define sleep disorders as any disturbance in sleep timing, quality, or quantity that results in daytime distress and impairment in functioning that, in turn, affects the baseline functional status of an individual. Our study aimed to describe how sleep disorders might affect pediatric inpatients at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH) as well as estimate their prevalence (2021-2022). We assessed the sleep habits using questionnaires and analyzed and combined these data to create rankings to compare the different issues affecting sleep habits in pediatric patients. Methodology Two scoring systems were used in this study, namely (a) the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and (b) the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire. Analyses of the data were conducted using SPSS version 23 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) and GraphPad Prism version 8 (GraphPad Software, Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). Results The prevalence of sleep disorders and their correlations were evaluated among 98 pediatric inpatients at KAUH, Saudi Arabia, between 2021 and 2022. The average duration of hospital stay was 11.97 ± 11.0 days (N = 78), and the average number of previous admissions was 2.85 ± 3.7 (N = 93). Conclusions According to the sleep behavior domain of the CSHQ, most children woke up sweating, screaming, and inconsolable during the night. Furthermore, bedtime resistance and sleep anxiety were the most prevalent sleep disturbances observed in the study population.
