Addiction Recovery Management Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Am J Addict. 2022 Mar;31(2):108-114. doi: 10.1111/ajad.13247. Epub 2021 Dec 26.
Recent work highlights an increase in the overlap of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and substance use disorder (SUD). Little is known about the presence of ASD symptoms in SUD-treatment-seeking populations.
The informant-rated Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS-2) was completed at intake to an outpatient SUD clinic for youth aged 16-26 (N = 69). Comparisons were made between those with elevated SRS-2 scores on demographic, psychiatric, and substance use variables.
Parents of sixty-nine patients with SUD completed the SRS-2. Fourteen (20%) (average age 18.7 ± 2.5) had elevated SRS-2 Total T-scores (≥66) and 55 (average age 18.1 ± 2.8) had non-clinical SRS-2 Total T-scores. There were few differences between groups; however, those with elevated SRS-2 Total T-scores were more likely to have a stimulant use disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 7.59, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.77, 101.88; p = 0.05) or an opioid use disorder (OR = 5.02, 95% CI = 0.59, 43.27; p = 0.08) than patients with normal SRS-2 Total T-scores as well as alcohol use in the week prior to intake.
A significant proportion of treatment-seeking SUD outpatients suffer from clinically elevated autistic traits. These findings highlight the importance of assessing for autistic traits in SUD treatment settings yet additional research is needed to determine if these findings are specific to the presence of ASD or secondary to sequelae of specific SUD presentations.
This study is, to our knowledge, the first to have examined the prevalence, morbidity, or clinical characteristics, associated with ASD symptoms in a SUD-specific population.
最近的研究强调自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）和物质使用障碍（SUD）的重叠现象有所增加。关于 SUD 治疗人群中 ASD 症状的存在情况，我们知之甚少。
在一家为 16-26 岁青少年开设的门诊 SUD 诊所，采用父母填写的《社交反应量表-2（SRS-2）》在入组时对患者进行评估（共 69 名患者）。比较了 SRS-2 评分升高的患者与人口统计学、精神科和物质使用变量之间的差异。
69 名 SUD 患者的家长完成了 SRS-2。其中 14 名（20%）（平均年龄 18.7±2.5 岁）的 SRS-2 总分（T 评分）升高（≥66），55 名（平均年龄 18.1±2.8 岁）的 SRS-2 总分处于非临床范围。两组之间差异较小；然而，SRS-2 总分升高的患者更有可能患有兴奋剂使用障碍（优势比[OR] = 7.59，95%置信区间[CI] = 0.77, 101.88；p = 0.05）或阿片类药物使用障碍（OR = 5.02，95%CI = 0.59, 43.27；p = 0.08），而 SRS-2 总分正常的患者以及在入组前一周内有饮酒行为的患者更有可能患有酒精使用障碍。
大量 SUD 门诊治疗的患者存在临床显著的自闭症特征。这些发现强调了在 SUD 治疗环境中评估自闭症特征的重要性，但还需要进一步的研究来确定这些发现是否是 ASD 的特异性表现，还是特定 SUD 表现的继发表现。
据我们所知，本研究首次在特定 SUD 人群中检查了 ASD 症状的患病率、发病率或临床特征。
