1. Benevides TW, Jaremski JE, Williams ED, Song W, Pham HH, Shea L. Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Community Mental Health Use Among Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults. J Adolesc Health;2024 (Mar 16)

PURPOSE: The purpose of this cohort study was to evaluate differences in rate of co-occurring mental health (MH) conditions among transition-age autistic youth (TAYA) who are Black, indigenous, and other people of color, and to identify enabling variables associated with any community MH visit in this population. METHODS: Medicare-Medicaid Linked Enrollees Analytic Data Source 2012 data were used for this study. TAYA 14-29 years old who received fee-for-service Medicare, Medicaid, or both were included. Predisposing, enabling, and need variables associated with both presence of MH conditions and any community MH visit were examined with general linear modeling. RESULTS: N = 122,250 TAYA were included. Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic TAYA were significantly less likely than White TAYA to have a diagnosis of substance-use, depressive, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorders. These groups were also significantly less likely to have had a community MH visit in the past year after controlling for predisposing, enabling, and need variables. Enabling variables associated with greater use of at least one community MH visit included dual enrollment in both Medicare and Medicaid and 12+ months of enrollment in 1115 or 1915(C) Medicaid waivers. DISCUSSION: Service delivery factors are an important area of future research, particularly dual enrollment and coverage disparities for Black, indigenous, and other people of color TAYA. Examining coverage of managed care enrollees, including differences by state, may offer additional insights on how these factors impact care.

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2. Iwanaga Y, Tanaka G, Maruta M, Shiozu H, Kawanaka M, Iwanaga R. Participation Patterns and Associated Factors in Japanese Children With Autism. OTJR (Thorofare N J);2024 (Mar 15):15394492241237741.

BACKGROUND: Children’s participation is an important outcome for children, families, and rehabilitation. OBJECTIVES: We compared participation patterns (home and community) of 6- to 12-year-old Japanese children with autism and children with typical development (TD) and explored the associations of participation with familial, environmental, and child-related factors. METHOD: Twenty-five mothers of children with autism and 21 mothers of TD children completed a survey covering their child’s participation and environment, family empowerment, autism symptoms, sensory processing, behavior, and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Children with autism showed restricted home and community participation. Home involvement was associated with family empowerment and the children’s age, whereas home frequency was linked to environmental supportiveness and household income. CONCLUSION: Japanese children with autism need appropriate support to address decreased participation. Occupational therapists may focus on family empowerment and the child’s environment to facilitate the home participation of children with autism. Participation Patterns and Associated Factors in Japanese Children with AutismParticipation in daily activities is essential for children’s health and well-being. We investigated the characteristics of and factors associated with home and community participation among Japanese children with autism without intellectual disability. The degree of environmental support at home, maternal perceptions of family empowerment, annual household income, and the age of the children were all associated with home participation in children with autism. These findings may be useful for professionals who support the daily lives of Japanese children with autism. They also suggest the importance of professionals focusing on children’s environment and family when effectively supporting their home lives. eng

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3. Kim W, Seong M, Kim KJ, Kim S. Engagnition: A multi-dimensional dataset for engagement recognition of children with autism spectrum disorder. Sci Data;2024 (Mar 15);11(1):299.

Engagement plays a key role in improving the cognitive and motor development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sensing and recognizing their engagement is crucial before sustaining and improving the engagement. Engaging technologies involving interactive and multi-sensory stimuli have improved engagement and alleviated hyperactive and stereotyped behaviors. However, due to the scarcity of data on engagement recognition for children with ASD, limited access to and small pools of participants, and the prohibitive application requirements such as robots, high cost, and expertise, implementation in real world is challenging. However, serious games have the potential to overcome those drawbacks and are suitable for practical use in the field. This study proposes Engagnition, a dataset for engagement recognition of children with ASD (N = 57) using a serious game, « Defeat the Monster, » based on enhancing recognition and classification skills. The dataset consists of physiological and behavioral responses, annotated by experts. For technical validation, we report the distributions of engagement and intervention, and the signal-to-noise ratio of physiological signals.

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4. Liu W, Thompson PA, Gray KM, Hastings RP. Child behavior problems and parental psychological distress in Chinese families of children with autism: The putative moderating role of parental social support and cultural values. Autism Res;2024 (Mar 15)

The wellbeing of parents of children with autism residing in mainland China remains understudied. We aimed to examine whether and how parental perceived social support, individualism, and collectivism acted together to moderate the relationships between child behavior problems and parental psychological distress in Chinese parents of children with autism. With convenience and snowball sampling, data on 268 primary caregiver parents of children with autism were collected from an online cross-sectional survey. Linear regression analysis indicated that child behavior problems were significantly associated with increased psychological distress in Chinese parents of children with autism. There was no evidence to support the stress-buffering model of social support in moderation analysis of the association between child behavior problems and parental psychological distress. Nonetheless, increased social support was associated with lower levels of parental psychological distress. Moderated moderation analyses did not support a role for individualism or collectivism as a moderator of the putative buffering role of social support. However, there was evidence that parental individualism was associated with increased parental psychological distress. Our findings highlight that child behavior problems are a robust correlate of parental psychological distress, and parental social support may act as a compensatory factor promoting less psychological distress rather than having a protective role. The role of social support and cultural values in the wellbeing of parents of children with autism in China requires additional exploration, including longitudinal research designs.

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5. Murdy A. Autism like jazz. Lancet Child Adolesc Health;2024 (Apr);8(4):256.

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6. Sweat SC, Cheetham CEJ. Deficits in olfactory system neurogenesis in neurodevelopmental disorders. Genesis;2024 (Apr);62(2):e23590.

The role of neurogenesis in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) merits much attention. The complex process by which stem cells produce daughter cells that in turn differentiate into neurons, migrate various distances, and form synaptic connections that are then refined by neuronal activity or experience is integral to the development of the nervous system. Given the continued postnatal neurogenesis that occurs in the mammalian olfactory system, it provides an ideal model for understanding how disruptions in distinct stages of neurogenesis contribute to the pathophysiology of various NDDs. This review summarizes and discusses what is currently known about the disruption of neurogenesis within the olfactory system as it pertains to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and Rett syndrome. Studies included in this review used either human subjects, mouse models, or Drosophila models, and lay a compelling foundation for continued investigation of NDDs by utilizing the olfactory system.

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7. Thoen A, Alaerts K, Prinsen J, Steyaert J, Van Damme T. The Physiological and Clinical-Behavioral Effects of Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback in Adolescents with Autism: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback;2024 (Mar 15)

Adolescents with autism present lower levels of cardiac vagal modulation. It was hypothesized that Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback (HRVB) increases cardiac vagal modulation in adolescents with autism, resulting in positive effects on physiological and psychosocial parameters. It was also hypothesized that home-based HRVB training is feasible. In a single-blind, randomized sham-controlled pilot trial, adolescents with autism performed supervised HRVB (n = 24) or sham training (n = 20). Subsequently, half of the adolescents received HRVB training at home, whereas the other subset did not practice. Physiological, cortisol and behavioral data were collected during stress-provoking assessments before and after each training period. Supervised HRVB resulted in a late increase in cardiac vagal modulation in adolescents with autism. Heart rate increased and cortisol decreased significantly immediately after supervised HRVB, but none of these effects remained after follow-up. Following supervised HRVB, no significant change in psychosocial functioning was found. Home-based HRVB was feasible, adolescents reported lower symptoms of stress, but a significant decrease in compliance rate was found. HRVB is feasible and effective in adolescents with autism given the late-emerging increases in cardiac vagal modulation and decrease in stress symptoms. Replicating this study with a larger sample and further exploration of the working mechanisms of HRVB are recommended. ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT04628715.

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8. Wang Z, Yuen AS, Wong KH, Chan AY, Coghill D, Simonoff E, Lau WC, Wong IC, Park S, Man KK. Association between prenatal antipsychotic exposure and the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev;2024 (Mar 16):105635.

The paucity of evidence regarding the safety of gestational antipsychotic exposure has led to treatment discontinuation in pregnant women with severe mental health conditions. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarise the current evidence on the association between gestational antipsychotic exposure and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children (Study protocol registered in PROSPERO:CRD42022311354). Five studies included in our meta-analysis with around 8.6 million pregnancy episodes in nine different countries/regions. Results from our meta-analysis indicate that the heightened risks of ASD and ADHD in children gestationally exposed to antipsychotics appear to be attributable to maternal characteristics, rather than having a causal relationship with the antipsychotic exposure during pregnancy. The results underscore the importance of meticulously monitoring the neurodevelopment of children born to mothers with mental illnesses, which can facilitate early interventions and provide requisite support.

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9. Yeh CH, Lin PC, Tseng RY, Chao YP, Wu CT, Chou TL, Chen RS, Gau SS, Ni HC, Lin HY. Lack of effects of eight-week left dorsolateral prefrontal theta burst stimulation on white matter macro/microstructure and connection in autism. Brain Imaging Behav;2024 (Mar 16)

Whether brain stimulation could modulate brain structure in autism remains unknown. This study explored the impact of continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on white matter macro/microstructure in intellectually able children and emerging adults with autism. Sixty autistic participants were randomized (30 active) and received active or sham cTBS for eight weeks twice per week, 16 total sessions using a double-blind (participant-, rater-, analyst-blinded) design. All participants received high-angular resolution diffusion MR imaging at baseline and week 8. Twenty-eight participants in the active group and twenty-seven in the sham group with good imaging quality entered the final analysis. With longitudinal fixel-based analysis and network-based statistics, we found no significant difference between the active and sham groups in changes of white matter macro/microstructure and connections following cTBS. In addition, we found no association between baseline white matter macro/microstructure and autistic symptom changes from baseline to week 8 in the active group. In conclusion, we did not find a significant impact of left DLPFC cTBS on white matter macro/microstructure and connections in children and emerging adults with autism. These findings need to be interpreted in the context that the current intellectually able cohort in a single university hospital site limits the generalizability. Future studies are required to investigate if higher stimulation intensities and/or doses, other personal factors, or rTMS parameters might confer significant brain structural changes visible on MRI in ASD.

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