1. Dell’Osso L, Cremone IM, Carpita B, Fagiolini A, Massimetti G, Bossini L, Vita A, Barlati S, Carmassi C, Gesi C. {{Correlates of autistic traits among patients with borderline personality disorder}}. {Comprehensive psychiatry}. 2018; 83: 7-11.
BACKGROUND: Despite discrete autism-related dimensions, such as deficits in communication, empathy and mentalizing are likely to affect the development of personality and despite they actually frequently occur in borderline patients, no research has so far investigated the relationship between autistic traits and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical significance of autistic traits in subjects with BPD. METHODS: The sample included 50 patients with a clinical diagnosis of BPD and 69 healthy controls. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 Clinician Version was used to establish the presence of comorbid mental disorders among BPD subjects and to confirm the absence of lifetime mental disorders in the control group. Participants were also asked to fill three self-report instruments: the Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum (AdAS Spectrum), the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and the Mood Spectrum Self-Report (MOODS-SR). RESULTS: Patients with BPD reported higher autistic traits than healthy individuals. Moreover, autistic traits were shown to exert a significant impact on some clinical features and associated manifestation of BPD, such as suicidality and lifetime exposure to physical and/or sexual abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Subthreshold autism spectrum may be relevant for subjects suffering from BPD and future research may further address clinical correlates of autistic traits among patients with this disorder.
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2. Haigh SM, Walsh JA, Mazefsky CA, Minshew NJ, Eack SM. {{Processing Speed is Impaired in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Relates to Social Communication Abilities}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by a variety of social and non-social behavioral deficits. One potential mechanism that could unify this diverse profile of behaviors is slower processing speed. Seventy-six high-functioning adults with ASD were compared to 64 matched controls on standardized measures of processing speed. Participants with ASD were significantly slower on all measures, and on the composite score from the three tests (d’s > .65). ASD participants with slower processing speeds scored higher on the ADOS Communication and Reciprocal Social Interaction scale (r = .34). These findings provide evidence of slower processing speeds in adults with ASD, and that this may be contributing to impairments in social communication skills. Interventions that improve processing speed might improve social communication abilities in ASD.
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3. Katz T, Shui AM, Johnson CR, Richdale AL, Reynolds AM, Scahill L, Malow BA. {{Modification of the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
Sleep problems are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and adversely impact daytime functioning. Although no questionnaires have been developed to assess sleep in children with ASD, the 33-item Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) is widely used in this population. We examined the factor structure of the CSHQ in 2872 children (age 4-10 years) enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network. A four-factor solution (Sleep Initiation and Duration, Sleep Anxiety/Co-Sleeping, Night Waking/Parasomnias, and Daytime Alertness) with 5-6 items per factor explained 75% of the total variation. Ten items failed to load on any factor. This abbreviated 23-item four-factor version of this measure may be useful when assessing sleep in children with ASD.
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4. Kirkovski M, Suo C, Enticott PG, Yucel M, Fitzgerald PB. {{Short communication: Sex-linked differences in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are related to social functioning in autism spectrum disorder}}. {Psychiatry Res}. 2018.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was utilized to investigate sex differences in gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) between adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (NT) controls. GABA at the right superior temporal sulcus (STS) is reported for 12 ASD and 14 NT participants. The results show no group differences in GABA. There was, however, a significant positive association between GABA at the STS and autism-related social impairments in females with ASD. These findings provide preliminary support for sex differences in GABAergic distribution and processes that contribute to social functioning in ASD.
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5. Teague SJ, Newman LK, Tonge BJ, Gray KM. {{Caregiver Mental Health, Parenting Practices, and Perceptions of Child Attachment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {J Autism Dev Disord}. 2018.
This paper investigates the role of caregiver mental health and parenting practices as predictors of attachment in children with intellectual disability/developmental delay, comparing between children with ASD (n = 29) and children with other developmental disabilities (n = 20). Parents reported that children with ASD had high levels of anxiety and stress, and attachment insecurity in children (less closeness and more conflict in attachment relationships, and more inhibited attachment behaviours) compared with children with other developmental disabilities. Children’s attachment quality was associated with parenting practices and the presence of an ASD diagnosis. These results highlight the bidirectional nature of the quality of caregiving environments and attachment in children with ASD, and also provide a strong rationale for targeting children’s attachment quality in early interventions.
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6. Thulasi V, Steer RA, Monteiro IM, Ming X. {{Overall severities of gastrointestinal symptoms in pediatric outpatients with and without autism spectrum disorder}}. {Autism}. 2018: 1362361318757564.
In order to determine the effectiveness of a Gastrointestinal Severity Index to screen for gastrointestinal disorders, the Gastrointestinal Severity Index was administered to 135 children with autism spectrum disorders and 146 comparisons with and without gastrointestinal disorders. The mean Gastrointestinal Severity Index scores of the groups were 3.53 +/- 1.78, 3.15 +/- 1.99, 0.81 +/- 1.25, and 0.29 +/- 0.76 (comparative pediatric patients with gastrointestinal disorder = autism spectrum disorder + gastrointestinal disorder > autism spectrum disorder-gastrointestinal disorder > comparative pediatric patients without gastrointestinal disorder, respectively), Ps < 0.05. Receiver operating characteristic curves and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated to ascertain which Gastrointestinal Severity Index cutoff scores yielded the highest sensitivity and specificity rates for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disorders. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.97) for the comparison group was higher (P < 0.001) than the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.85) for autism spectrum disorder children indicating that the Gastrointestinal Severity Index was more effective in screening for gastrointestinal disorders in comparisons. However, the same Gastrointestinal Severity Index cutoff score of 2 and above yielded, respectively, sensitivity and specificity rates of 92% and 93% for comparisons and 80% and 79% for autism spectrum disorder children. The negative and positive predictive values based on these sensitivity and specificity rates were calculated for a range of prevalences of gastrointestinal disorders and indicated that the Gastrointestinal Severity Index may be useful for screening children with and without autism spectrum disorder for gastrointestinal symptoms. Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
7. Wu HC, White S, Rees G, Burgess PW. {{Executive function in high-functioning autism: Decision-making consistency as a characteristic gambling behaviour}}. {Cortex}. 2018.
Restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviours, interests, or activities are a critical diagnostic criterion for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous studies using gambling paradigms with ASD populations have identified that, unlike typically developed control participants, people with a diagnosis of ASD tend to maintain particular response patterns regardless of the magnitude of potential outcomes to uncertain gains or losses. Here we designed a gambling test that permitted calculation of the response consistency in gambling choices in situations that presented varying expected outcomes in terms of gains or losses. The task was administered to 33 adults with a diagnosis of ASDs and compared to a group of 47 typically-developed (TD) control participants who were matched for age and IQ. When presented with choices where participants could either make a risky gamble or a safe choice in terms of gains or losses (e.g., 20% chance of winning pound5 vs. 100% chance of winning pound1), the ASD participants did not differ from the TDs in their overall risk-taking behaviour. However, they were more consistent in their individual choices from trial to trial. Furthermore, the proportion of participants who either implemented an invariate response strategy (e.g., either always choosing the most risky or most « safe » option) was significantly higher in the ASD group compared with the controls. Additionally, while the ASD group were slower to make their responses in the win frame and the first half of the lose frame, by the end of the task their decision times were the same as the TD controls. These findings suggest that the ASD tendency towards repetitive behaviour may demonstrate itself even in high-level decision-making tasks, which needs to be understood if we are to be sure what such tasks are measuring.
