20288
Obsessive and Circumscribed Patterns of Interest (OCPI) of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Obsessive and circumscribed patterns of interest (OCPI) have been a hallmark of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) across diagnostic systems and eras. Studies of OCPI in ASD have been mostly conducted with small samples of high-functioning adolescents. There is little information on the prevalence or expression of OCPI in ASD from large, well-defined, populations. By specifying systematic aspects of OCPI, it may be possible to develop interventions to improve the social and communication skills of individuals with ASD.
Objectives:
The objectives of this study were to: determine the prevalence of OCPI in a large cohort of ASD children, assess whether there were demographic or functional differences between ASD children who exhibited OCPI and ASD children without indication of OCPI and to describe the most frequent topics of OCPI, among children with ASD.
Methods:
A complete cycle (2010) of data from ASD surveillance in the New Jersey metro region, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) multiple source ascertainment method was analyzed for the presence of OCPI. OCPI was defined as one or more indications of such interest, in one or more professional evaluations. Sex, and race information was recorded from the source documents. Cognitive status and severity of ASD impairment were derived from source documents and the standard ASD case determination process. Chi-square tests were used to determine if race, sex, IQ and level of impairment were associated with OCPI. Subjects with only non-specific indication(s) of OCPI were removed from further analysis. The topics of OCPI were described by percentiles.
Results:
Overall, 401 (males = 340, 85%; females = 61, 15%) in a total population of 696 (58%) 8-year old children with surveillance-confirmed ASD had documented OCPI in professional evaluations, through age 8. Sex was not associated with the likelihood of displaying OCPI, but race was associated with likelihood of OCPI. White non-Hispanic, children were more likely to exhibit OCPI than African-American non-Hispanic and Hispanic children (p<.01). Level of impairment due to ASD and cognitive level were not associated with the likelihood of displaying OCPI. Each specific indication of OCPI was sorted into a category based on preferred topic: vehicles (17%), television shows (15%), reading/letters (11%), animals (6%), time/clocks (6%), videogames (5%), dolls (1%) and balls (1%).
Conclusions:
A significant proportion (approximately 60%) of ASD children showed OCPI prior to age 9, underscoring the relevance of this area of impairment. White children were more likely to have OCPI. Additional study is needed to understand this association and to determine the extent to which OCPI varies with age. The most frequently-occurring topics of OCPI: vehicles, television shows and reading/letters were identified in only 17%, 15% and 11%, respectively, of the children with OCPI indicates the significant diversity of the topics of OCPI across ASD children. Additional research is needed to assess the relation of OCPI to other features of ASD and to determine how awareness of an individual’s OCPI can be used to develop approaches aiming to enhance the functional status of individuals with ASD.