1. Baykal S, Karakurt MN, Cakir M, Karabekiroglu K. {{An Examination of the Relations Between Symptom Distributions in Children Diagnosed with Autism and Caregiver Burden, Anxiety and Depression Levels}}. {Community mental health journal}. 2018.
High stress levels and impairment of physical/mental health in parents can delay early and effective intervention in autism. The purpose of this study was to examine relations between the clinical characteristics of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and caregiver burden, and anxiety and depression levels. Seventy cases under monitoring at the Namik Kemal University Medical Faculty Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Polyclinic with a diagnosis of ASD, and their principal caregivers, were included in the study. The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale were completed. At multiple regression analysis, autism symptom severity and caregiver depressive symptom levels emerged as significant predictors of total caregiver burden scores. Only the ABC language subscale score had a determining effect on caregiver burden (r = 0.51, r(2) = 0.26, p = 0.04). ABC body and object use subscale scores were identified as the symptom cluster affecting depression and anxiety scores (r = 0.25, r(2) = 0.06, p = 0.03 and r = 0.28, r(2) = 0.08, p = 0.01). Our findings show that ASD symptom severity and depressive symptoms in the caregiver are the most important factors giving rise to the caregiver burden, and that the main ASD symptom cluster affecting the caregiver burden was problems associated with language development. Better understanding of variables impacting on the caregiver burden will increase the quality of psychosocial services for caregivers.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
2. Carruthers S, Kent R, Hollocks MJ, Simonoff E. {{Brief Report: Testing the Psychometric Properties of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Journal of autism and developmental disorders}. 2018.
Anxiety is a prevalent and impairing co-morbidity among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet assessment measures, including screening tools, are seldom validated with autism samples. We explored the psychometric properties of the child and parent reports of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the Screen for Anxiety Related Disorder-71 (SCARED-71) with 49 males with ASD (10-16 years, 63% co-occurring anxiety). Both measures had excellent internal consistency and fair-good parent-child agreement. The SCAS has a higher proportion of items evaluating observable behaviors. Predictive power of the measures did not differ. Higher cut-points in the parent reports (SCARED only) and lower cut-points in the child reports may enhance prediction in this sample. Choice of measure and cut-points should be considered alongside intended purpose.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
3. Carter Leno V, Chandler S, White P, Yorke I, Charman T, Pickles A, Simonoff E. {{Alterations in electrophysiological indices of perceptual processing and discrimination are associated with co-occurring emotional and behavioural problems in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder}}. {Molecular autism}. 2018; 9: 50.
Background: Many young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience emotional and behavioural problems. However, the causes of these co-occurring difficulties are not well understood. Perceptual processing atypicalities are also often reported in individuals with ASD, but how these relate to co-occurring emotional and behavioural problems remains unclear, and few studies have used objective measurement of perceptual processing. Methods: Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to both standard and deviant stimuli (which varied in pitch) in an auditory oddball paradigm in adolescents (mean age of 13.56 years, SD = 1.12, range = 11.40-15.70) with ASD (n = 43) with a wide range of IQ (mean IQ of 84.14, SD = 24.24, range 27-129). Response to deviant as compared to standard stimuli (as indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN)) and response to repeated presentations of standard stimuli (habituation) were measured. Multivariate regression tested the association between neural indices of perceptual processing and co-occurring emotional and behavioural problems. Results: Greater sensitivity to changes in pitch in incoming auditory information (discrimination), as indexed by increased MMN amplitude, was associated with higher levels of parent-rated behaviour problems. MMN amplitude also showed a trend positive correlation with parent-rated sensory hyper-sensitivity. Conversely, greater habituation at the later N2 component was associated with higher levels of emotional problems. Upon more detailed analyses, this appeared to be driven by a selectively greater ERP response to the first (but not the second or third) standard stimuli that followed deviant stimuli. A similar pattern of association was found with other measures of anxiety. All results remained in covariation analyses controlling for age, sex and IQ, although the association between MMN amplitude and behaviour problems became non-significant when controlling for ASD severity. Conclusions: Findings suggest that alterations in mechanisms of perceptual processing and discrimination may be important for understanding co-occurring emotional and behavioural problems in young people with ASD.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
4. Chaabene I, Halayem S, Mrabet A, Hajri M, Bouden A. {{Quality of live among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders in Tunisia}}. {La Tunisie medicale}. 2018; 96(3): 172-7.
BACKGROUND: Studies on parents of children with autistic spectrum disorders’ (ASD) quality of life (QOL) agree on its alteration and seek to identify risk factors in order to target interventions. AIMS: To study the QOL of a Tunisian population of parents of children with ASD and to look for risk factors specific to the Tunisian population. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study of 50 parents of 50 children who met the DSM V criteria for autism spectrum disorder. A pre-established record was used to collect the biographical and clinical data. The severity of autism was determined using CARS. The SF-36, validated in Tunisia, made it possible to assess the QOL of the parents. RESULTS: The proportion of parents with impaired QOL was 64%. The average mental score was lower than the average physical summary score. Aggressiveness was the predominant factor that significantly altered parents’ QOL at the total SF-36 score (p=0,03) and 5-dimensional levels (0.006
Lien vers Pubmed
5. Del Valle Rubido M, McCracken JT, Hollander E, Shic F, Noeldeke J, Boak L, Khwaja O, Sadikhov S, Fontoura P, Umbricht D. {{In Search of Biomarkers for Autism Spectrum Disorder}}. {Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research}. 2018.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) lacks validated measures of core social functions across development stages suitable for clinical trials. We assessed the concurrent validity between ASD clinical measures and putative biomarkers of core deficits, and their feasibility of implementation in human studies. Datasets from two adult ASD studies were combined (observational study [n = 19] and interventional study baseline data [n = 19]). Potential biomarkers included eye-tracking, olfaction, and auditory and visual emotion recognition assessed via the Affective Speech Recognition test (ASR) and Reading-the-Mind-in-the-Eyes Test (RMET). Current functioning was assessed with intelligence quotient (IQ), adaptive skill testing, and behavioral ratings. Autism severity was determined by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-2 and Social Communication Interaction Test (SCIT). Exploratory measures showed varying significant associations across ASD severity, adaptive skills, and behavior. Eye tracking endpoints showed little relationship to adaptive ability but correlated with severity and behavior. ASR scores significantly correlated with most adaptive behavior domains, as well as severity. Olfaction predicted visual and auditory emotion recognition. SCIT scores related moderately to multiple severity domains, and was the only measure not related with IQ. RMET accuracy was less related to ASD features. Eye tracking, SCIT, and ASR showed high test-retest reliability. We documented associations of proximal biomarkers of social functioning with multiple ASD dimensions. With the exception of SCIT, most correlations were modest, limiting utility as proxy measures of social communication. Feasibility and reliability were high for eye-tracking, ASR, and SCIT. Overall, several novel experimental paradigms showed potential as social biomarkers or surrogate markers in ASD. Autism Research 2018. (c) 2018 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: More accurate measurements of treatment effects are needed to help the development of new drug treatments for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study evaluates the relationship between assessments designed to measure behaviors associated with social communication and cognition in ASD with clinical and diagnostic assessments of symptom severity as well as their implementation. The assessments including eye-tracking, auditory and visual social stimuli recognition, and olfaction identification showed potential for use in the evaluation of treatments for social difficulties in ASD.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
6. Deon Kidd V, De Claro AMO. {{Preparing for Autistic Patients in Orthopaedic Surgery: Tips for a Successful Health-Care Interaction}}. {The Journal of bone and joint surgery American volume}. 2018; 100(20): e132.
The prevalence of autism in the United States has been climbing for the last 3 decades, and this comes at a time when the medical community is poorly equipped to address the various needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Because busy orthopaedic surgery practices will invariably encounter more patients with ASD, they may want to develop pragmatic strategies and protocols that will promote a successful health-care interaction with these patients.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
7. Fang Q, Aiken CA, Fang C, Pan Z. {{Effects of Exergaming on Physical and Cognitive Functions in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review}}. {Games for health journal}. 2018.
The increase in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) population triggers a deep concern within public health. This alarming trend stresses the need for the development of effective strategies that might aid with this growing population. Exergaming has several advantages as an ASD intervention, such as flexible play, a private space for exercise, and diverse types of physical activity. The study aims to analyze the effectiveness of exergaming interventions on individuals with ASD. The systematic review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. Studies which employed exergaming interventions on individuals with ASD were considered for inclusion. Exergaming-related changes in participants’ physical and cognitive functions were the main interest of the current review. Ten articles satisfied the predetermined eligibility criteria. Thematic coding categorized the main outcomes into two higher-order themes and five subthemes. The higher-order themes were physical performance and cognitive performance. The emerged subthemes were physical fitness, motor performance, intensity of physical activity, executive function, and self-perception. Following exergame interventions, individuals with ASD indicated significant improvements in physical fitness, executive function, and self-perception. Exergaming also increased participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. In contrast, exergaming indicated small impact on emotional regulation and did not provide adequate opportunities for motor skill development. It is worth noting that only one randomized controlled trial was included in the current review. Future research would require more rigorous study designs to provide reliable evidence on the effectiveness of exergaming interventions for individuals with ASD. Exergaming interventions lead to improved physical and cognitive functions in individuals with ASD. It is suggested that exergaming be used as a feasible supplement to traditional physical activity programs for individuals with ASD.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
8. Jacobs D, Steyaert J, Dierickx K, Hens K. {{Implications of an Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis: An Interview Study of How Physicians Experience the Diagnosis in a Young Child}}. {Journal of clinical medicine}. 2018; 7(10).
Clinicians are significant translators and interpreters towards parents of the abundant literature on autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, how clinicians experience and view ASD and an ASD diagnosis is not well known. Sixteen physicians working with young children with a (presumed) diagnosis of ASD participated in a semi-structured interview. They described their professional view on ASD and an ASD diagnosis, and how they experienced its use in their clinical practice. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of the data revealed two main topics about physicians’ experiences: how they view ASD and an ASD diagnosis, and how they experience the implications of an ASD diagnosis. The latter topic comprised three themes: (1) the ASD diagnosis leads to a particular treatment trajectory and services; (2) ambivalence about how the ASD diagnosis impacts parents and child; and (3) psycho-relational functions of the ASD diagnosis. Physicians feel that some doubts and questions are inevitable when dealing clinically with ASD and an ASD diagnosis. They also perceive that there are certain risks associated with assigning the categorical ASD diagnosis to a young child. Altogether however, ASD is perceived by physicians as a useful and valuable diagnosis both because of treatment related consequences and of several psycho-relational implications.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
9. Luckhardt C, Kroger A, Elsuni L, Cholemkery H, Bender S, Freitag CM. {{Facilitation of biological motion processing by group-based autism specific social skills training}}. {Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research}. 2018.
Abnormalities in neurophysiological correlates of social perception are a well-known feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known if and how ASD specific behavioral interventions may affect neural processing in ASD. The aim of the current study was to investigate for the first time, whether the group-based social skills training SOSTA-FRA would elicit changes in neurophysiological correlates of social perception in high-functioning ASD individuals aged 8-17 years. Event-related potentials (ERPs) of a facial emotion recognition (FER) and a biological motion perception task were examined. ERPs were compared between a randomized intervention and a treatment as usual group at three time points (baseline, post-intervention, and at 3 months follow-up). A reduction of P100 amplitude in the right hemisphere and a trend toward reduced N200 latency in the biological motion task were found after the training only in the intervention group, whereas behavioral performance remained stable. Change in N200 latencies and parent-rated social responsiveness showed small but statistically nonsignificant correlations. No changes were observed regarding FER. Results indicate that the intervention changed neural correlates of social perception in ASD. Especially neural correlates of biological motion perception, which is an important prerequisite for successful social interaction, were sensitive to change. ERPs of social perception tasks that are impaired in ASD can well be used to objectively measure neural processing improvement by behavioral intervention. (c) 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: It is well known that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) process social information differently than other people and that these differences can also be seen in their brain activity. We also know that behavioral therapies, such as group-based social skills trainings can help people with ASD improve their behavior. But it is unclear how therapy changes social processing in the brain. The aim of our study was therefore to examine how neural processing of social stimuli changed after behavioral intervention. Comparing a group of children and adolescents that received the group-based social skills training SOSTA-FRA to a control group we found that the neural processing of human motion became faster and involved less brain resources after the intervention, while behavioral performance remained stable. No changes were seen for the processing of emotional facial expressions. We recommend that future studies should also analyze changes in brain function as well as behavioral changes as a secondary therapy outcome parameter.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
10. Magan-Maganto M, Canal-Bedia R, Hernandez-Fabian A, Bejarano-Martin A, Fernandez-Alvarez CJ, Martinez-Velarte M, Martin-Cilleros MV, Flores-Robaina N, Roeyers H, Posada de la Paz M. {{Spanish Cultural Validation of the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Revised}}. {Journal of autism and developmental disorders}. 2018.
The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers-revised/follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F) was developed to reduce the number of cases requiring telephone verification. The aim of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the M-CHAT-R/F in the Spanish public health system. The M-CHAT-R/F was translated, culturally adapted, and then administered to 6625 children. Of the 39 positive screening cases, 15 children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 24 with non-ASD disorders or delays. The sensitivity was 0.79 and specificity of 0.99. Positive and negative predictive values were 0.39 and 0.99, respectively. These results are similar to the English equivalent, though observed prevalence was lower. This study supports Spanish National Health System policy makers to consider a universal ASD screening program.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
11. Rydzewska E, Hughes-McCormack LA, Gillberg C, Henderson A, MacIntyre C, Rintoul J, Cooper SA. {{Prevalence of sensory impairments, physical and intellectual disabilities, and mental health in children and young people with self/proxy-reported autism: Observational study of a whole country population}}. {Autism : the international journal of research and practice}. 2018: 1362361318791279.
This study investigated the comorbid conditions in a whole country population of children/young people aged 0-24 years with and without autism. Data were drawn from Scotland’s Census 2011. We calculated the percentage with autism, their extent of comorbid conditions, odds ratio (with 95% confidence intervals) of autism predicting comorbidities, adjusted for age and gender, and odds ratio for age and gender predicting comorbidities within the cohort with autism. A total of 25,063/1,548,819 (1.6%) had autism: 19,880 (79.3%) males and 5183 (20.7%) females. Autism had an odds ratio of 5.4 (5.1-5.6) for predicting deafness/partial hearing loss, odds ratio of 8.9 (8.1-9.7) for blindness/partial sight loss, odds ratio of 49.7 (38.1-64.9) for intellectual disabilities, odds ratio of 15.7 (13.4-18.5) for mental health conditions, odds ratio of 15.8 (14.1-17.8) for physical disability and odds ratio of 3.9 (3.8-4.0) for other conditions. Females with autism were more likely to have each additional condition than males, including intellectual disabilities, suggesting they may have more severe autism than males and adding evidence that autism may be currently underdiagnosed in more intellectually able females. These conditions are disabling and have a significant impact on long-term quality of life; their coexistence with autism adds extra complexity. It is important to raise clinicians’ awareness of this extent of comorbidity, and to have accurate prevalence data to plan prevention and intervention measures, and to follow health inequality trends.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
12. Sevincok D, Kutlu A, Memis CO, Dogan B, Cakaloz B, Sevincok L. {{The autistic-like and schizotypal traits in adolescent patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder}}. {Asian journal of psychiatry}. 2018.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
13. Vivanti G, Hamner T, Lee NR. {{Neurodevelopmental Disorders Affecting Sociability: Recent Research Advances and Future Directions in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Williams Syndrome}}. {Current neurology and neuroscience reports}. 2018; 18(12): 94.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this review, we summarize current knowledge and hypotheses on the nature of social abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Williams syndrome (WS). RECENT FINDINGS: Social phenotypes in ASD and WS appear to reflect analogous disruptions in social cognition, and distinct patterns of social motivation, which appears to be reduced in ASD and enhanced in WS. These abnormalities likely originate from heterogeneous vulnerabilities that disrupt the interplay between domain-general and social domain-specific cognitive and motivational processes during early development. Causal pathways remain unclear. Advances and research gaps in our understanding of the social phenotypes in ASD and WS highlight the importance of (1) parsing the construct of sociability, (2) adopting a developmental perspective, (3) including samples that are representative of the spectrum of severity within ASD and WS in neuroscientific research, and (4) adopting transdiagnostic treatment approaches to target shared areas of impairment across diagnostic boundaries.
Lien vers le texte intégral (Open Access ou abonnement)
14. Vllasaliu L, Jensen K, Dose M, Hagenah U, Hollmann H, Kamp-Becker I, Lechmann C, Poustka L, Sinzig J, Spitzcok von Brisinski I, Tebartz van Elst L, Will D, Vogeley K, Freitag CM. {{[The diagnostics of autism spectrum disorder in children, adolescents and adults: Overview of the key questions and main results of the first part of the German AWMF-S3-clinical guideline]}}. {Zeitschrift fur Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie}. 2018: 1-12.
The diagnostics of autism spectrum disorder in children, adolescents and adults: Overview of the key questions and main results of the first part of the German AWMF-S3-clinical guideline Abstract. BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) include ICD-10 diagnoses of childhood autism, Asperger syndrome, and atypical autism; there is a lifetime prevalence of ~1 %. The aim of the evidence-based clinical guideline (AWMF-S3-Guideline) is to summarize the current evidence concerning diagnostic and therapeutic processes for professionals working in healthcare and social welfare and to provide consensus on clinical recommendations. The present study summarizes the most important results of the diagnostic part of this guideline. METHOD: The guideline group comprised 14 clinical and scientific expert associations from the German healthcare system, in addition to representatives of relatives and patients. Recommendations were based on results of a systematic literature search, data extraction, the evaluation of study quality, and, if possible, meta-analytic aggregation of included data in combination with the clinical expertise of the respective representatives. Consensus-based recommendations were determined via nominal group technique. RESULTS: The AWMF-S3-Clinical Guideline, Diagnostic Part, summarizes current research on this topic. The main focus is put on the question of obligatory versus redundant diagnostic procedures. After a general introduction to the clinical picture of ASD, essential aspects like obtaining the medical history, the effective use of screening and diagnostic instruments, medical examination, the full diagnostic work-up as well as communicating the diagnostic results to relatives and patients are described in detail. We also conducted a meta-analysis on the stability of early diagnosis. CONCLUSION: This first part of the ASD guideline offers users the opportunity to inform themselves about the background of ASD as well as evidence-based and broadly consented information on the correct diagnostic process of ASD from infancy to adulthood.
