Medical Scientist Training Program, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Autism Res. 2022 Apr;15(4):761-770. doi: 10.1002/aur.2671. Epub 2022 Jan 12.
Somatic symptoms are the most common cause of outpatient medical visits in the general population, yet their presence and severity in individuals on the autism spectrum has rarely been studied. We sought to assess the prevalence, impact, and clinical correlates of 14 commonly reported somatic symptoms in a sample of 290 transition-aged autistic young adults (mean [SD] age: 23.10 [2.38] years, range 18-26; 76.7% diagnosed with autism before age 18) recruited from the Simons Foundation SPARK participant pool. A modified version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 was used to assess somatic symptom prevalence/impact, along with measures of depression, anxiety, autistic traits, and quality of life. Somatic symptom burden was much higher in autistic young adults than previously reported in the general population. The most commonly reported current symptoms were fatigue (72.8%), sleep problems (69.0%), and menstrual problems (61.4% of females). Moderate or severe symptom levels were reported by 53.9% of females and 18.75% of males in our cohort, with the odds of females endorsing any given symptom being 2-4 times greater than males. Both individual symptoms and total symptom burden were related to higher levels of depression, anxiety, and autistic traits, along with lower quality of life. Despite little research on this topic previously, somatic symptoms are highly prevalent in autistic young adults, particularly women. Future research is needed to investigate links between somatic symptoms, medical and psychiatric morbidity, and health care utilization in the autistic population. LAY SUMMARY: Somatic symptoms (i.e., physical symptoms such as such as pain, weakness, stomachache, or shortness of breath) are highly prevalent in the general population and account for a large proportion of health care costs. However, few studies have investigated how often these symptoms are reported by autistic adults or their associations with other clinical and demographic variables. Based on self-report data from 290 young autistic adults, we found very high rates of bothersome somatic symptoms in this population, with females endorsing all symptoms at substantially higher rates than males. Somatic symptoms were also associated with worse mental health and quality of life, suggesting that they represent an overlooked contributor to poor health outcomes in the autistic adult population.
躯体症状是普通人群中门诊就诊最常见的原因，但在自闭症谱系个体中，其存在和严重程度很少被研究。我们试图在从西蒙斯基金会 SPARK 参与者库招募的 290 名即将成年的自闭症青年成年人（平均年龄[标准差]：23.10[2.38]岁，范围 18-26 岁；76.7%在 18 岁之前被诊断为自闭症）样本中评估 14 种常见报告躯体症状的患病率、影响和临床相关性。使用改良版患者健康问卷-15 来评估躯体症状的患病率/影响，以及抑郁、焦虑、自闭症特征和生活质量的测量。与普通人群相比，自闭症青年成年人的躯体症状负担要高得多。目前报告的最常见症状是疲劳（72.8%）、睡眠问题（69.0%）和月经问题（61.4%的女性）。在我们的队列中，53.9%的女性和 18.75%的男性报告有中度或重度症状水平，女性报告任何特定症状的可能性是男性的 2-4 倍。个体症状和总症状负担与更高水平的抑郁、焦虑和自闭症特征以及更低的生活质量相关。尽管以前对这一主题的研究很少，但躯体症状在自闭症青年成年人中非常普遍，尤其是女性。未来需要研究躯体症状与自闭症人群中的躯体和精神疾病发病率以及医疗保健利用之间的联系。
躯体症状（即疼痛、虚弱、腹痛或呼吸急促等身体症状）在普通人群中很常见，占医疗保健费用的很大一部分。然而，很少有研究调查这些症状在自闭症成年人中的报告频率及其与其他临床和人口统计学变量的关系。基于 290 名年轻自闭症成年人的自我报告数据，我们发现该人群中存在非常高的躯体症状困扰率，女性报告的所有症状的比率明显高于男性。躯体症状也与更差的心理健康和生活质量相关，这表明它们代表了自闭症成年人群体中不良健康结果的一个被忽视的因素。
