Association between severity and repetitive behaviours among children with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression among their primary caregivers

Author(s):  
J. Anu Rita ◽  
P. P. Kannan ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan ◽  
Shanthi Nambi

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common pervasive developmental disorder and present with varied severity and clinical presentation. The diagnosis of ASD in the children has a huge psychological impact among their primary caregivers, leading to distress and mental health issues. The aim of our study was to assess the association between the severity and repetitive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression levels among their primary caregivers. Materials and methods: Children with autism spectrum disorder and their primary caregivers were recruited from the child psychiatry unit of large tertiary children hospital in south India, after informed consent. Severity of ASD was assessed by Childhood Autism Rating Scale – 1 (CARS-1) and repetitive behaviour by Repetitive behaviour scale - Revised (RBS-R). Among the caregivers, anxiety levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and depression levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Depression (HAM-D). Results: We recruited 100 children with ASD and their mothers (primary caregivers) in the study. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among mothers of children with ASD was 44% and 30%. Statistically significant correlation was observed between CARS scores and HAM-A (p=0.002) and HAM-D (p less than 0.001) scores. Among the repetitive behaviours, self-injurious behaviour was found to be significantly associated with anxiety (p less than 0.001) and depression (p less than 0.001) scores, while stereotyped (P =0.002) and compulsive (p=0.004) behaviours were associated with depression scores. Conclusion: There is a significant association between severity of autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression among their mothers.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (01) ◽  
pp. 4-10
Author(s):  
J. , , , Anu Rita ◽  
P. P. Kannan ◽  
Vijaya Raghavan ◽  
Shanthi Nambi

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common pervasive developmental disorder and present with varied severity and clinical presentation. The diagnosis of ASD in the children has a huge psychological impact among their primary caregivers, leading to distress and mental health issues. The aim of our study was to assess the association between the severity and repetitive behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression levels among their primary caregivers. Materials and methods: Children with autism spectrum disorder and their primary caregivers were recruited from the child psychiatry unit of large tertiary children hospital in south India, after informed consent. Severity of ASD was assessed by Childhood Autism Rating Scale – 1 (CARS-1) and repetitive behaviour by Repetitive behaviour scale - Revised (RBS-R). Among the caregivers, anxiety levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and depression levels were assessed by Hamilton rating scale for Depression (HAM-D). Results: We recruited 100 children with ASD and their mothers (primary caregivers) in the study. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among mothers of children with ASD was 44% and 30%. Statistically significant correlation was observed between CARS scores and HAM-A (p=0.002) and HAM-D (p less than 0.001) scores. Among the repetitive behaviours, self-injurious behaviour was found to be significantly associated with anxiety (p less than 0.001) and depression (p less than 0.001) scores, while stereotyped (P =0.002) and compulsive (p=0.004) behaviours were associated with depression scores. Conclusion: There is a significant association between severity of autism spectrum disorder and anxiety and depression among their mothers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanae Suzuki ◽  
Shu Takagai ◽  
Masatsugu Tsujii ◽  
Hiroyuki Ito ◽  
Tomoko Nishimura ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping-Chen Chan ◽  
Cheng-Te Chen ◽  
Hua Feng ◽  
Ya-Chen Lee ◽  
Kuan-Lin Chen

Objective/Background This study aimed to examine the relationships of theory of mind (ToM) to both pretend play and playfulness in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods Twenty children with ASD aged between 3 years and 7.11 years were assessed with the ToM test, and then placed in a free play condition and a pretend play condition to assess pretend play and playfulness with the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment and Test of Playfulness, respectively. In addition, the children's symptom severities of ASD and verbal abilities were also assessed with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary Test—second edition, respectively. Results The results of the regression analysis confirmed that ToM significantly predicted pretend play variables, namely, Number of Object Substitutions (R2 = .158, p = .002) and Number of Imitated Actions (R2 = .175, p = .001), but not playfulness. The CARS score was a significant predictor of the Percentage of Elaborate Pretend Play Actions of pretend play (R2 = .075, p = .034), as well as the internal control (R2 = .125, p = .006) and framing (R2 = .071, p = .039) variables of playfulness. Conclusion The findings support the idea that children with ASD who have better ToM might be able to develop better pretend play, but not better playfulness, which might be more strongly related to their autistic severity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S221-S221
Author(s):  
F. Rad ◽  
L. Kobylinska ◽  
I. Mihailescu ◽  
A. Buica ◽  
I. Dobrescu

From assortative mating theory to genetic background, several ethipathogenic hypotheses in ASD deal with the traits of parents.Backgroundseveral ethipathogenic hypotheses in ASD deal with the traits of parents. The objectives of our study were to measure the ADHD and autism spectrum disorder quotients in parents of children diagnosed with ASD comorbid with ADHD and to correlate the measurements for the tests in parents with those in their children. The specific aim was to identify whether any significant correlations exist.MethodFifty-two pairs of parents of children with autism spectrum disorders and ADHD were included in this study, based on informed consent and the ethical committee's approval. The child's diagnosis was established by a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, based on the child's clinical symptoms and on specific diagnostic scales, such as the ADOS and ADHD-rating scale. The parents completed an Autism Spectrum Quotient Scale (ASQS) and an adult ADHD scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 and Excel. The correlations were verified using Spearman's non-parametric correlation test.ResultsThere was a strong correlation between the parents’ ADHD scores (r = 0.5, P < 0.001), and a reverse medium correlation between the mother's ADHD score and the child's ADOS score (r = –0.32, P = 0.02). The father's ASQS and ADHD scores correlated between each other (r = 0.31, P = 0.02). There were no correlations between the parents’ and the child's ADHD score, nor between the child's ADOS score and the parents’ ASQS scores.ConclusionOur results suggest that ADHD symptoms in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders comorbid with ADHD might be predictors for the child's prognosis.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


Author(s):  
Soccalingam Artchoudane ◽  
Meena Ramanathan ◽  
Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani ◽  
Partheeban Muruganandam ◽  
Lakshmi Jatiya

Autism is characterized by dysfunction in motor execution and sensory perception that are linked with neuromuscular function (fN) for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This article aims to evaluate effectiveness of yoga therapy (YT) on fN and autism severity in children with ASD. Sixty children were screened (age 6 to 18) using childhood autism rating scale (CARS); 40 were allocated randomly (n=20) into yoga (YG) and control (CG) groups; both followed regular school routine, and YG received 10 YT sessions (60 min/session). Visual reaction time (VRT), handgrip strength (HGS), and CARS were measured. YG showed significant changes in VRT and CARS after YT and intergroup comparisons revealed significant differences between groups at the end of the study (VRT,p=0.008; CARS,p=0.011). YT resulted in small but statistically significant changes in CARS and significant improvement in VRT. This implies that YT can be used as an adjuvant modality for children with ASD, reducing co-morbidities with regard to the neuromuscular function.


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