Prevalence estimates of several other conditions, including epilepsy, sleep disorders, and gastrointestinal disease are also much higher in ASD than those observed in the general population. For instance, people with an ASD diagnosis are more likely to be overweight or obese, or have a co-occurring accompanying psychiatric condition, such as anxiety and mood disorders, compared to those without ASD. In addition to these core diagnostic features, affected individuals experience a higher burden of co-occurring conditions impacting a wide range of body systems. The core symptoms of ASD include social communication issues, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors. Over the past 20 years, the reported prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the US has tripled, with current estimates indicating a prevalence of 1.85% among children. Study findings, if replicated in other samples, can inform the etiology of comorbidity in ASD. Our findings underscore that individuals with ASD experience a greater burden of comorbidities, which could be partly attributable to the higher rates of perinatal exposures compared to their non-ASD siblings. A similar pattern of association was also observed in non-ASD siblings. In logistic regression models adjusted for covariates, these exposures were associated with several distinct comorbidities in ASD cases, including attention and behavior problems, psychiatric and neurological disorders, and growth conditions. Preterm birth and hypoxia at birth were the most common peri-natal exposures in the sample. Majority (74%) of individuals with ASD had at least one comorbidity, and had a greater average number of comorbidities than their non-ASD siblings. The study sample consisted of 42,569 individuals with ASD and their 11,389 non-ASD siblings (full and half siblings). Comorbidities considered in the study included neurological, cognitive, psychiatric, and physical conditions. We used the SPARK study database, launched by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). This study sought to describe the frequency and distribution of comorbidit conditions in individuals with ASD, and systematically evaluate the possibility that pre- and postnatal exposures (e.g., preterm birth, hypoxia at birth, traumatic brain injury, and fetal alcohol syndrome) associated with ASD may also be linked with distinct comorbidities. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in addition to the core features of the disease, experience a higher burden of co-occurring medical conditions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |