Characterizing sleep in children with autism spectrum disorders: a multidimensional approach

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To relate parentally reported sleep concerns in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to polysomnographic (PSG) findings and measures of daytime behavior and autism symptomatology. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study involving validated questionnaires, sleep histories and diaries, 2 nights of PSG, and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). SETTING: Vanderbilt University General Clinical Research Center Sleep Core. PARTICIPANTS: 21 children with ASD and 10 typically developing (TD) children, aged 4-10 years. Children were free of psychotropic medications, with no history of mental retardation or epileptic seizures. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Children with ASD were defined as "good sleepers" (10 children) and "poor sleepers" (11 children) on the basis of parental report; the age-comparable TD children were all reported by their parents to be good sleepers. Poor sleepers with ASD showed prolonged sleep latency and decreased sleep efficiency on night 1 of PSG and differed on insomnia-related subscales of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ; increased sleep onset delay and decreased sleep duration). The good sleepers with ASD did not differ from the TD children in sleep architecture or on CSHQ domains. As compared with ASD good sleepers, the ASD poor sleepers also had higher scores related to affective problems on the Child Behavior Checklist and more problems with reciprocal social interaction on the ADOS. CONCLUSIONS: Parentally reported sleep concerns of insomnia in children with ASD are substantiated by validated sleep questionnaires and by PSG. Furthermore, good sleepers with ASD showed fewer affective problems and better social interactions than ASD poor sleepers.     

Brief report: sleep in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders

OBJECTIVE: To examine sleep quality and sleep-wake patterns in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and parents of typically developing (TD) children. METHODS: Thirty-five mothers and 22 fathers completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a 7-day sleep diary, and wore an actigraph for 1 week. RESULTS: Parents of children with ASDs reported poorer sleep quality compared to the TD group. In addition, parents of children with ASDs had objectively different sleep patterns, with an earlier wake time and shorter total sleep time than parents of TD children. Finally, regardless of group, fathers had significantly shorter sleep time compared to mothers. CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to demonstrate poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep quantity in parents of children with ASDs using validated measures of sleep. Future studies should examine the relationship between chronic sleep loss and stress in parents of children with ASDs.     

孤独症谱系障碍儿童的睡眠行为

目的:探讨学前期和学龄期孤独症谱系障碍(autism spectrum disorders,ASD)儿童的睡眠行为的特点和差异。方法:选取符合美国精神障碍诊断与统计手册第4版(DSM-IV)诊断标准的ASD儿童84名和年龄性别匹配的正常儿童91名,使用儿童睡眠习惯问卷(CSHQ)和一周睡眠日记,由儿童主要照顾者记录儿童的睡眠情况。依据CSHQ总分大于41分为睡眠不良,以具体条目中睡眠行为发生频率超过2晚/周的标准界定睡眠行为问题,分3～5岁和6～12岁两个年龄段比较ASD与对照组儿童在睡眠行为和习惯上的差异。结果:3～5岁ASD组儿童CSHQ的睡眠潜伏期[(2.1±0.8)vs.(1.6±0.7)]、睡眠持续情况[(5.4±1.7)vs.(4.8±1.3)]得分高于对照组,入睡困难(77.6%vs.49.0%)、睡眠量不足(63.3%vs.42.9%)、夜醒哭闹(34.7%vs.12.2%)及日间疲乏(36.7%vs.10.2%)的比例较对照组高(均P0.05)。6～12岁ASD儿童平时睡眠总时长短于对照组[(8.68±0.76)h vs.(9.33±1.00)h],CSHQ的入睡抵触[(10.1±2.8)vs.(8.6±2.5)]、睡眠潜伏期[(1.7±0.7)vs.(1.4±0.6)]与睡眠焦虑[(5.4±2.0)vs.(4.5±1.9)]得分高于对照组,入睡困难(54.3%vs.31.0%)、睡眠量不足(60.0%vs.35.7%)、与父母同睡(65.7%vs.38.1%)、入睡需陪伴(68.6%vs.35.7%)的比例较对照组高(均P0.05)。结论:ASD儿童普遍存在睡眠总量少、入睡困难等问题,学龄前期以夜醒后哭闹和白天疲倦较为突出,而学龄期则以睡眠焦虑较为明显。     

Sleep and sleepiness in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder and controls

The present study assessed the association between habitual sleep patterns and one night of PSG measured sleep with daytime sleepiness in children with ADHD and typically developing children. Eighty‐two children (26 ADHD, 56 typically developing children), between 7 and 11 years, had nighttime sleep recorded using actigraphy over five nights (habitual sleep patterns) and polysomnography during one night (immediate sleep patterns), both within their home environments. Daytime sleepiness was examined using the multiple sleep latency test within a controlled laboratory setting the following day. Using Spearman correlations, the relationships between mean sleep latencies on the multiple sleep latency test and scores on a modified Epworth Sleepiness Scale with polysomnographic measures of sleep quality and architecture and with actigraphic sleep quality measures were examined. Longer sleep latency, measured using polysomnography and actigraphy, was related to longer mean sleep latencies on the multiple sleep latency test in typically developing participants, whereas actigraphic measures of sleep restlessness (time awake and activity during the night), as well as time in slow‐wave sleep, were positively related to mean sleep latency on the multiple sleep latency test in children with ADHD. These results show a differential relationship for children with ADHD and typically developing children between habitual and immediate sleep patterns with daytime sleepiness and suggest that problems initiating and maintaining sleep may be present both in nighttime and daytime sleep.     

Concordance of actigraphy with polysomnography in children with and without attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder

This study sought to: (1) compare actigraphy‐derived estimated sleep variables to the same variables based on the gold‐standard of sleep assessment, polysomnography; (2) examine whether the correlations between the measures differ between children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typically developing children; and (3) determine whether these correlations are altered when children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder are treated with medication. Participants (24 attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder; 24 typically developing), aged 6–12 years, completed a 1‐week baseline assessment of typical sleep and daytime functioning. Following the baseline week, participants in the attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder group completed a 4‐week blinded randomized control trial of methylphenidate hydrochloride, including a 2‐week placebo and 2‐week methylphenidate hydrochloride treatment period. At the end of each observation (typically developing: baseline; attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder: baseline, placebo and methylphenidate hydrochloride treatment), all participants were invited to a sleep research laboratory, where overnight polysomnography and actigraphy were recorded concurrently. Findings from intra‐class correlations and Bland–Altman plots were consistent. Actigraphy was found to provide good estimates (e.g. intra‐class correlations >0.61) of polysomnography results for sleep duration for all groups and conditions, as well as for sleep‐onset latency and sleep efficiency for the typically developing group and attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder group while on medication, but not for the attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder group during baseline or placebo. Based on the Bland–Altman plots, actigraphy tended to underestimate for sleep duration (8.6–18.5 min), sleep efficiency (5.6–9.3%) and sleep‐onset latency, except for attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder during placebo in which actigraphy overestimated (?2.1 to 6.3 min). The results of the current study highlight the importance of utilizing a multimodal approach to sleep assessment in children with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder.     

Increased Sleep Disturbances in Thai Children With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Compared With Typically Developing Children

This study compares sleep disturbances in Thai children aged 5–12 years with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing children using the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ)–Thai version. Fifty-five children with ADHD and 110 typically developing children were enrolled. Their parents completed the CSHQ, the ADHD rating scales, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Children with ADHD had significantly higher scores in all subscales of the CSHQ compared to controls. Among children with ADHD, children with higher SDQ scores (> 15) appeared to have more sleep disturbances than those with relatively lower SDQ scores. Moreover, fewer sleep-related behavioral problems were observed in the medication treated group, which is particularly new to the field and for some perhaps not unexpected clinically.     

Recovery sleep and performance following sleep deprivation with dextroamphetamine

Twelve subjects were studied to determine the after-effects of using three 10-mg doses of dextroamphetamine to sustain alertness during sleep deprivation. Sleep architecture during recovery sleep was evaluated by comparing post-deprivation sleep beginning 15 h after the last dextroamphetamine dose to post-deprivation sleep after placebo. Performance and mood recovery were assessed by comparing volunteers who received dextroamphetamine first (during sleep deprivation) to those who received placebo first. Stages 1 and 2 sleep, movement time, REM latency, and sleep latency increased on the night after sleep deprivation with dextroamphetamine vs. placebo. Stage 4 was unaffected. Comparisons to baseline revealed more stage 1 during baseline than during either post-deprivation sleep period and more stage 2 during baseline than during sleep following placebo. Stage 4 sleep was lower during baseline than it was after either dose, and REM sleep was lower during baseline and after dextroamphetamine than after placebo. Sleep onset was slowest on the baseline night. Next-day performance and mood were not different as a function of whether subjects received dextroamphetamine or placebo during deprivation. These data suggest dextroamphetamine alters post-deprivation sleep architecture when used to sustain alertness during acute sleep loss, but next-day performance and subjective mood ratings are not substantially affected. A recovery sleep period of only 8 h appears to be adequate to regain baseline performance levels after short-term sleep deprivation.     

How do children with autism spectrum disorder form gist memory during sleep? A study of slow oscillation–spindle coupling

Sleep is assumed to support memory through an active systems consolidation process that does not only strengthen newly encoded representations but also facilitates the formation of more abstract gist memories. Studies in humans and rodents indicate a key role of the precise temporal coupling of sleep slow oscillations (SO) and spindles in this process. The present study aimed at bolstering these findings in typically developing (TD) children, and at dissecting particularities in SO-spindle coupling underlying signs of enhanced gist memory formation during sleep found in a foregoing study in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual impairment. Sleep data from 19 boys with ASD and 20 TD boys (9–12 years) were analyzed. Children performed a picture-recognition task and the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) task before nocturnal sleep (encoding) and in the next morning (retrieval). Sleep-dependent benefits for visual-recognition memory were comparable between groups but were greater for gist abstraction (recall of DRM critical lure words) in ASD than TD children. Both groups showed a closely comparable SO-spindle coupling, with fast spindle activity nesting in SO-upstates, suggesting that a key mechanism of memory processing during sleep is fully functioning already at childhood. Picture-recognition at retrieval after sleep was positively correlated to frontocortical SO-fast-spindle coupling in TD children, and less in ASD children. Critical lure recall did not correlate with SO-spindle coupling in TD children but showed a negative correlation (r = −.64, p = .003) with parietal SO-fast-spindle coupling in ASD children, suggesting other mechanisms specifically conveying gist abstraction, that may even compete with SO-spindle coupling.     

Sleep problems in children with autism spectrum disorders, developmental delays, and typical development: a population-based study

This study compared parent-reported sleep characteristics in 2- to 5-year-old children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to children with other developmental delays (DD) and typical development (TD). We included 529 children (303 ASD [167 males], 63 DD [46 males], and 163 TD [134 males]) enrolled in the CHARGE study, an ongoing population-based case-control study. The mean age of participants was 3.6 years (standard deviation, 0.8 years). ASD diagnosis was confirmed with Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedules (ADOS). Cognitive and adaptive functioning was assessed using Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS), respectively. Demographic, medical and sleep history information were ascertained from California birth records, telephone interview, medical assessments at clinic visit, and parent-administered questionnaires. Fifty-three percent of children with ASD had at least one frequent sleep problem, followed by 46% of children with DD, and 32% of the TD group (P < 0.0001). Exploratory factor analyses of sleep history data yielded two factors: sleep onset problems and night waking. Children with ASD had marginally higher sleep onset factor scores and significantly higher night waking factor scores compared with the TD group. Factor scores for children with DD were intermediate between the ASD and TD groups. Cognitive or adaptive development did not predict severity of sleep problems in the ASD group.     

Sleep problems in children with autism

Autism is a developmental disability characterized by severe deficits in social interaction and communication, and the presence of repetitive-ritualistic behaviors. Sleep problems are frequently reported by parents of children with autism with prevalence estimates of 44-83% for sleep disorders in this population. To better understand sleep in autism, we surveyed sleep problems in 210 children with autism using a Likert-based questionnaire for parent report. The most frequently reported sleep problems included difficulty in falling asleep, restless sleep, not falling asleep in own bed, and frequent wakenings. Least frequently reported sleep problems were sleep walking, morning headaches, crying during sleep, apnea, and nightmares. When surveys were divided into mental retardation (MR)/not MR categories, no significant differences were identified in frequencies of reported sleep problems except for waking at night which occurred much more frequently in the MR group. There was also no difference in sleep problems related to age of the child other than nocturnal enuresis. An association was noted between certain medical problems and sleep problems. Vision problems, upper respiratory problems, and runny nose were associated with decreased nighttime sleep. Vision problems, poor appetite, and poor growth were associated with increased nighttime waking. Poor appetite and poor growth were associated with decreased willingness to fall asleep. This study confirms a high prevalence of sleep problems reported by parents of children with autism and points to the need for more systematic research as an initial step in developing treatment strategies.     

Parent-reported sleep problems in children and adolescents with sickle cell disease: relationship to health-related quality of life

IntroductionChildren with sickle cell disease (SCD) can present a variety of clinical symptoms that may affect their sleep and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This study aims to investigate the relation between sleep problems and HRQOL in children and adolescents with SCD.Material and methodsThe sample included 86 children and adolescents in the SCD patient group and 82 healthy controls, with an age range of 8–16 years. Subjects for the study were recruited from the Sickle Cell and Thalassemia Center of Hatay State Hospital, Hatay, Turkey. The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was used to evaluate sleep problems and Kinder Lebensqualitätsfragebogen: Children’s Quality of Life Questionnaire – revised (KINDL-R) was used to examine HRQOL.ResultsTotal score, bedtime resistance, and night waking subscores of CSHQ were significantly higher in children with SCD when compared to healthy children. Total score, physical well-being, emotional well-being, social, and school subscores of KINDL-R were significantly lower in the patient group. Among SCD children, total score, bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, daytime sleepiness, and parasomnias subscores of CSHQ were negatively correlated with KINDL-R total score. In the regression model, disease severity and CSHQ total score had significant negative associations with KINDL-R total score.ConclusionsSleep problems in SCD children appear to be negatively linked with HRQOL. Disease severity and sleep problems may be predictors of overall HRQOL in children and adolescents with SCD.     

Sleep in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: How Are Measures of Parent Report and Actigraphy Related and Affected by Sleep Education?

Sleep disturbance is common in children with autism, resulting in a great need for effective treatments. To evaluate treatments for sleep disturbance in this population, it is critical to understand the relationship between measures of sleep captured by parent report and objective measures. The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and actigraphy-measured data from 80 children with autism and sleep-onset delay were evaluated. Reported problems with sleep-onset delay were concurrent with sleep duration problems in 66% of children, night wakings in 72% of children, and bedtime resistance in 66% of children; 38% of children were reported to have problems with all CSHQ insomnia domains. Actigraphy-measured sleep duration was correlated with estimates using CSHQ-reported bed and wake times.     

Sleep,health and memory: comparing parents of typically developing children and parents of children with special health‐care needs

Parents of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCNs) report poorer sleep than parents of typically developing (TD) children, which has been associated with poorer mental health. The relations between sleep disturbances and general health and memory among this population are unknown. The current study aimed to replicate the findings that parents of CSHCNs report poorer sleep quality than parents of TD children, and further examine how sleep is related to general health and memory. Participants (75 parents of TD children; 97 parents of CSHCNs) completed an online questionnaire consisting of: demographics, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Prospective Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) and the Healthy Days Measure. Parents of CSHCNs reported worse global sleep than parents of TD children. Parents of CSHCNs took longer to fall asleep at night, had shorter sleep duration and worse subjective sleep quality than parents of TD children. Parents of CSHCNs also had worse prospective memory and were more likely to report poor general health than parents of TD children. Poorer sleep quality was associated with worse memory and health among both parents of TD children and parents of CSHCNs. Results from this study highlight the importance of addressing the sleep of parents of CSHCNs and support the need for more research in this area. By recognizing factors associated with parent's health and functioning, service providers may be better able to implement support programs for parents of CSHCNs.     

Sleep electroencephalogram in children with a parental history of alcohol abuse/dependence

We examined the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) in 9- and 10-year-old children with (PH+) and without (PH−) a parental history of alcohol abuse/dependence to determine whether sleep disturbances associated with alcohol precede the onset of alcohol use. Participants slept on a fixed sleep schedule that ensured at least a 10-h time in bed for 1 week before an adaptation and baseline night. Data were collected in a four-bed sleep research laboratory. Thirty healthy boys and girls aged 9 or 10 years were classified as either PH+ or PH− based on DSM-IV criteria applied to structured parental interviews. All-night polysomnography was performed, sleep data were scored visually in 30-s epochs, and EEG power spectra were calculated for each epoch. All-night EEG spectra were calculated for rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep, and cycle-by-cycle spectra were calculated for NREM sleep. The two groups did not differ on any sleep stage variable. All-night analyses revealed normalized power in the delta band and spindle range were lower in PH+ children. Within NREM sleep cycles PH+ children exhibited less normalized power in the delta band and spindle range compared with PH− children. This effect occurred in the first four cycles and was most pronounced in the first sleep cycle of the night. We found no signs of sleep disruption in sleep stages for PH+ children. Sleep EEG spectral differences, however, suggest that certain circuits responsible for 'protecting' sleep may be impaired in PH+ children, which may lead to disrupted sleep later in life.     

The use of actigraphy to study sleep disorders in preschoolers: some concerns about detection of nighttime awakenings

STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study compared actigraphy with videosomnography in preschool-aged children, with special emphasis on the accuracy of detection of nighttime awakenings. DESIGN: Fifty-eight participants wore an actigraph for 1 week and were videotaped for 2 nights while wearing the actigraph. SETTING: Participants were solitary sleepers, studied in their homes. PARTICIPANTS: One group (n = 22) was diagnosed with autism, another group (n = 11) had developmental delays without autism, and a third group (n = 25) were typically developing children; age ranged from 28 to 73 months (mean age 47 months); 29 boys and 29 girls. INTERVENTIONS: N/A. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Nocturnal sleep and wakefulness were scored from simultaneously recorded videosomnography and actigraphy. The accuracy of actigraphy was examined in an epoch-by-epoch comparison with videosomnography. Findings were 94% overall agreement, 97% sensitivity, and 24% specificity. Statistical corrections for overall agreement and specificity resulted in an 89% weighted-agreement and 27% adjusted specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Actigraphy has poor agreement for detecting nocturnal awakenings, compared with video observations, in preschool-aged children.     

Planning actions in autism

It has been suggested that the deficit in understanding others’ intention in autism depends on a malfunctioning of the mirror system. This malfunction could be due either to a deficit of the basic mirror mechanism or to a disorganization of chained action organization on which the mirror understanding of others’ intention is based. Here we tested this last hypothesis investigating the kinematics of intentional actions. Children with autism and typically developing children (TD) were asked to execute two actions consisting each of three motor acts: the first was identical in both actions while the last varied for its difficulty. The result showed that, unlike in TD children, in children with autism the kinematics of the first motor act was not modulated by the task difficulty. This finding strongly supports the notion that children with autism have a deficit in chaining motor acts into a global action.     

Sleep and neurocognitive functioning in children with eczema

Sleep disruption in childhood is associated with clearly defined deficits in neurocognition and behaviour. Childhood eczema is also a potent cause of sleep disruption though it is unknown whether it too results in neurocognitive deficits. To test this hypothesis, neurocognitive (WISC-IV), parental-reported sleep quality (Sleep Disturbance Scale of Children (SDSC)) and overnight polysomnographic (PSG) data were collected in 21 children with eczema and 20 healthy controls (age range 6–16 years). Children with eczema had worse sleep quality on both PSG (notably increased nocturnal wakefulness, a higher number of stage shifts and a longer latency to REM onset) and parental report. In addition, they demonstrated significant neurocognitive deficits (especially verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning and to a lesser extent working memory) with a composite Full Scale IQ 16 points lower than controls. Parental reported sleep problems but not PSG parameters were correlated with reduced neurocognitive performance. However, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that eczema status was predictive while sleep fragmentation (parental or PSG) was not predictive of neurocognitive performance. As this is the first study to systematically examine neurocognitive functioning in children with eczema and given the finding of significant deficits it merits replication especially given the prevalence of the condition. The unanswered question is whether these cognitive deficits normalise with effective eczema treatment and if this is mediated by improvements in sleep architecture.     

Determining Sleep Quality in Children with Sleep Disordered Breathing: EEG Spectral Analysis Compared with Conventional Polysomnography

Study Objectives:

To identify the extent of sleep disruption in children with various severities of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) using both conventional visually scored assessment of sleep stages and arousal indices together with EEG power spectral analysis.

Design:

Sleep stages and power spectral analysis of the sleep EEG in children with varying severities of SDB with matched control subjects with no history of snoring were compared across the whole night, across sequential hours from sleep onset, and across sleep stages.

Measurements:

Overnight polysomnography was performed on 90 children (49M/41F) aged 7-12 y with SDB and 30 age-matched healthy controls (13M/17F). Sleep stages were visually scored and the EEG spectra were analyzed in 5-s epochs.

Results:

Conventional visual scoring indicated that, although sleep duration was reduced in severely affected children, sleep quality during the essential stages of SWS and REM was preserved, as evidenced by the lack of any significant decrease in their duration in SDB severity groups. This finding was supported by the lack of substantial differences in EEG spectral power between the groups over the whole night, within specific hours, and in individual sleep stages.

Conclusions:

Both conventional scoring and EEG spectral analysis indicated only minor disruptions to sleep quality in children with SDB when assessed across the night, in any specific hour of the night, or in any specific sleep stage. These results suggest that reduced daytime functioning previously reported in children with SDB may not be due to sleep disruption. We speculate that in children, in contrast to adults, a stronger sleep drive may preserve sleep quality even in severe SDB.

Citation:

Yang JSC; Nicholas CL; Nixon GM; Davey MJ; Anderson V; Walker AM; Trinder JA; Horne RSC. Determining sleep quality in children with sleep disordered breathing: EEG spectral analysis compared with conventional polysomnography. SLEEP 2010;33(9):1165-1172.     

Controlled‐release melatonin,singly and combined with cognitive behavioural therapy,for persistent insomnia in children with autism spectrum disorders: a randomized placebo‐controlled trial

Although melatonin and cognitive–behavioural therapy have shown efficacy in treating sleep disorders in children with autism spectrum disorders, little is known about their relative or combined efficacy. One hundred and sixty children with autism spectrum disorders, aged 4–10 years, suffering from sleep onset insomnia and impaired sleep maintenance, were assigned randomly to either (1) combination of controlled‐release melatonin and cognitive–behavioural therapy; (2) controlled‐release melatonin; (3) four sessions of cognitive–behavioural therapy; or (4) placebo drug treatment condition for 12 weeks in a 1 : 1 : 1 : 1 ratio. Children were studied at baseline and after 12 weeks of treatment. Treatment response was assessed with 1‐week actigraphic monitoring, sleep diary and sleep questionnaire. Main outcome measures, derived actigraphically, were sleep latency, total sleep time, wake after sleep onset and number of awakenings. The active treatment groups all resulted in improvements across all outcome measures, with moderate‐to‐large effect sizes from baseline to a 12‐week assessment. Melatonin treatment was mainly effective in reducing insomnia symptoms, while cognitive–behavioural therapy had a light positive impact mainly on sleep latency, suggesting that some behavioural aspects might play a role in determining initial insomnia. The combination treatment group showed a trend to outperform other active treatment groups, with fewer dropouts and a greater proportion of treatment responders achieving clinically significant changes (63.38% normative sleep efficiency criterion of >85% and 84.62%, sleep onset latency <30 min). This study demonstrates that adding behavioural intervention to melatonin treatment seems to result in a better treatment response, at least in the short term.