Department of Preventive Intervention for Psychiatric Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashicho, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187-8553, Japan.
Institute of Education and Human Development, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8610, Japan.
BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 26;22(1):499. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04145-1.
Recently, there has been a growing recognition that autistic traits exist along a continuum beyond diagnostic categories and that even subclinical symptoms may be associated with an increased risk for the psychosocial well-being and mental health of children. However, as yet, there has been little research on whether preschool children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for ASD, are more likely to experience difficulties. To address this deficit this study examined whether young children with subthreshold autistic traits have an increased risk for emotional/behavioral difficulties.
Data were analyzed from 1057 Japanese preschool children aged 5-years old collected during the first wave of the Tama Children's Survey (TCS) cohort study. Parent-reported autistic traits were assessed with the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), while they provided information on their child's emotional/behavioral problems using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations.
Preschool children with mild-to-moderate autistic traits, corresponding to subclinical autism were significantly more likely to score above the clinical thresholds for emotional/behavioral problems compared to children with fewer autistic traits. Follow-up diagnostic assessments and analyses of 72 children from the cohort confirmed these findings and showed that these children with subthreshold autistic traits also had a significantly lower intelligence quotient (IQ) as measured by the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI).
Although subthreshold autistic traits are difficult to define due to the sometimes vague border between typical and atypical development, there may be a large number of preschool children with subthreshold autistic traits, who may have an increased risk for a variety of different emotional/behavioral difficulties as well as lower cognitive functioning.
最近，人们越来越认识到，自闭症特征存在于诊断类别之外的连续体中，即使是亚临床症状也可能与儿童的社会心理福祉和心理健康风险增加有关。然而，迄今为止，关于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）症状但不符合 ASD 诊断标准的学龄前儿童是否更有可能遇到困难的研究甚少。为了解决这一不足，本研究探讨了是否具有亚临床自闭症特征的幼儿更有可能出现情绪/行为困难。
本研究分析了来自于 1057 名 5 岁日本学龄前儿童的数据，这些儿童是在 Tama 儿童调查（TCS）队列研究的第一波中收集的。使用社会反应量表（SRS）评估父母报告的自闭症特征，同时使用长处和困难问卷（SDQ）提供有关其子女情绪/行为问题的信息。使用逻辑回归分析来检查关联。
与自闭症特征较少的儿童相比，具有轻度至中度自闭症特征（相当于亚临床自闭症）的学龄前儿童更有可能在情绪/行为问题上的得分超过临床阈值。对来自该队列的 72 名儿童的后续诊断评估和分析证实了这些发现，并表明这些具有亚临床自闭症特征的儿童的智商（IQ）也明显较低，这是通过韦氏学前和小学智力量表（WPPSI）测量得出的。
尽管由于典型和非典型发育之间有时存在模糊的边界，因此很难定义亚临床自闭症特征，但可能有大量具有亚临床自闭症特征的学龄前儿童，他们可能面临多种不同的情绪/行为困难以及认知功能较低的风险。
