Considering the genetic determinism of autism, many findings suggest the existence of autistic traits in relatives of affected children, and then a broader autism phenotype.
Objectives:
The objective of this study was to estimate milder autistic traits in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
Methods:
A case control study is conducted at the child psychiatry clinic of University Hospital F. Bourguiba, Monastir, Tunisia comparing a group of parents of children with ASD, diagnosed with CARS and according to DSM IV (N=119) and a control group of parents of typically developing children (TD). Parents were assessed with the Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) (Baron-Cohen et al. 2001) consisting in 50 quantitative items and 5 sub-scales (imagination, communication, local details, attention switching and socialization)
Results:
First results showed that mean global AQ scores were higher in parents of children with ASD (20,39 ± 6,67 with extremes ranging from 6 to 45) in comparison with parents of TD (17,77±4,37, ranging from 5 to 28) (p=0,04)
Considering AQ subscales, significant differences were found for socialization (3,59±2,39 for ASD vs 2,77±1,67 for TD, p=0,01), imagination (4,54 ± 2 for ASD vs 3,27±1,51 for TD, p<0,001) and communication (3±2,03 for ASD vs 2,1±1,99 for TD, p=0,003)
No major difference was found for local details and attention switching subscales.
Conclusions:
These results confirm the existence of minor autistic traits in parents of children with ASD.
See more of: Clinical Phenotype
See more of: Symptoms, Diagnosis & Phenotype