Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Psychiatric Disorders in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Prevalence, Comorbidity, and Associated Factors in a Population-Derived Sample
Section snippets
Sample
The Special Needs and Autism Project sample was drawn from a total population cohort of 56,946 children. All of those with a current clinical diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorder (N = 255) or considered to be at risk for being an undetected case by virtue of having a Statement of Special Educational Needs (N = 1,515) were surveyed using the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ25). A Statement of Special Educational Needs is a legal document issued by U.K. education authorities when
Results
Of the 112 children included, 98 were male (7:1 male:female ratio), with a mean age of 11.5 years (range 10-13.9). Fifty children (39 male) had an ICD-10 diagnosis of other pervasive developmental disorders and 62 children (59 male) of childhood autism; 106 (95%) were white British.
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study of comorbid psychopathology in ASDs using an epidemiological, population-derived sample, and a standardized interview measure to determine the rates of DSM-IV disorders. The present research confirms the high rates of many psychiatric disorders in children with ASDs previously reported in less systematic studies. Although it is difficult to make direct comparisons with other samples, findings from an overlapping age group in the general population
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The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust. The authors are grateful to the children and families who participated in the study and to the clinical teams whose collaboration made the study possible. They thank Iris Carcani-Rathwell, Greg Pasco, Samantha Ross, Emma Rowley, Vicky Slonims, and Martha Turner for their help with assessments and Gordon Keeler for running the diagnostic algorithms. The study was approved by the South East Multicentre Research Ethics Committee.