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Bellia G, Chang J, Liew Z, Vernetti A, Macari S, Powell K, Chawarska K. Family history of psychiatric conditions and development of siblings of children with autism. Autism Res 2024. [PMID: 38896553 DOI: 10.1002/aur.3175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Younger siblings (SIBS) of children with autism exhibit a wide range of clinical and subclinical symptoms including social, cognitive, language, and adaptive functioning delays. Identifying factors linked with this phenotypic heterogeneity is essential for improving understanding of the underlying biology of the heterogenous outcomes and for early identification of the most vulnerable SIBS. Prevalence of neurodevelopmental (NDD) and neuropsychiatric disorders (NPD) is significantly elevated in families of children with autism. It remains unknown, however, if the family history associates with the developmental outcomes among the SIBS. We quantified history of the NDDs and NPDs commonly reported in families of children with autism using a parent interview and assessed autism symptoms, verbal, nonverbal, and adaptive skills in a sample of 229 SIBS. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine links between family history and phenotypic outcomes, whereas controlling for birth year, age, sex, demographics, and parental education. Results suggest that family history of schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and intellectual disability associate robustly with dimensional measures of social affect, verbal and nonverbal IQ, and adaptive functioning in the SIBS. Considering family history of these disorders may improve efforts to predict long-term outcomes in younger siblings of children with autism and inform about familial factors contributing to high phenotypic heterogenetity in this cohort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giselle Bellia
- Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Joseph Chang
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Zeyan Liew
- Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Angelina Vernetti
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Suzanne Macari
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Kelly Powell
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Katarzyna Chawarska
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
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Luo T, Zhang M, Li S, Situ M, Liu P, Wang M, Tao Y, Zhao S, Wang Z, Yang Y, Huang Y. Exome functional risk score and brain connectivity can predict social adaptability outcome of children with autism spectrum disorder in 4 years' follow up. Front Psychiatry 2024; 15:1384134. [PMID: 38818019 PMCID: PMC11137745 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1384134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder emerging in early childhood, with heterogeneous clinical outcomes across individuals. This study aims to recognize neuroimaging genetic factors associated with outcomes of ASD after a 4-year follow-up. Methods A total of 104 ASD children were included in this study; they underwent clinical assessments, MRI data acquisition, and the whole exome sequencing (WES). Exome functional risk score (EFRS) was calculated based on WES; and two modalities of brain connectivity were constructed based on MRI data, that is functional connectivity (FC) for functional MRI (fMRI), and individual differential structural covariance network (IDSCN) for structural MRI (sMRI), to explore the neuroimaging genetic biomarker of outcomes of ASD children. Results Regression analysis found EFRS predicts social adaptability at the 4-year follow-up (Y = -0.013X + 9.29, p = 0.003). We identified 19 pairs of FC associated with autism symptoms severity at follow-up, 10 pairs of FC and 4 pairs of IDSCN associated with social adaptability at follow-up, and 10 pairs of FC associated with ASD EFRS by support vector regression (SVR). Related brain regions with prognostic predictive effects are mainly distributed in superior frontal gyrus, occipital cortex, temporal cortex, parietal cortex, paracentral lobule, pallidum, and amygdala for FC, and temporal cortex, thalamus, and hippocampus for IDSCN. Mediation model showed that ASD EFRS affects the social communication of ASD children through the mediation of FC between left middle occipital gyrus and left pallidum (RMSEA=0.126, CMIN=80.66, DF=42, p< 0.001, CFI=0.867, AIC=152). Discussion Our findings underscore that both EFRS and brain connectivity can predict social adaptability, and that brain connectivity serving as mediator in the relationship of EFRS and behaviors of ASD, suggesting the intervention targets in the future clinical application.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Yi Huang
- Mental Health Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Sari NP, Tsompanidis A, Wahab RJ, Gaillard R, Aydin E, Holt R, Allison C, Baron-Cohen S, van IJzendoorn MH, Jansen PW. Is the association between mothers' autistic traits and childhood autistic traits moderated by maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index? Mol Autism 2023; 14:46. [PMID: 38066561 PMCID: PMC10709910 DOI: 10.1186/s13229-023-00578-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous studies showed that there is a positive association between mothers' and children's autistic traits. We also tested if this association is more pronounced in mothers with a higher pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI). METHOD The study was embedded in two cohorts with information available for 4,659 participants from the Generation R and for 179 participants from the Cambridge Ultrasound Siblings and Parents Project (CUSP) cohort. In both cohorts, maternal autistic traits were assessed using the short form of the Autism Spectrum Quotient, and information about maternal height and weight before pregnancy was obtained by questionnaire. Child autistic traits were assessed with the short form of Social Responsiveness Scale in Generation R (M = 13.5 years) and with the Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT) in the CUSP cohort (M = 1.6 years). RESULT Higher maternal autistic traits were associated with higher autistic traits in toddlerhood (CUSP cohort; βadjusted = 0.20, p < 0.01), in early childhood (Generation R; βadjusted = 0.19, p < 0.01), and in early adolescence (Generation R; βadjusted = 0.16, p < 0.01). Furthermore, a higher maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with higher child autistic traits, but only in Generation R (βadjusted = 0.03, p < 0.01). There was no significant moderating effect of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI on the association between autistic traits of mothers and children, neither in Generation R nor in CUSP. In addition, child autistic traits scores were significantly higher in mothers who were underweight and in mothers who were overweight compared to mothers with a healthy weight. CONCLUSION We confirm the association between maternal and child autistic traits in toddlerhood, early childhood, and early adolescence. Potential interacting neurobiological processes remain to be confirmed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Novika Purnama Sari
- Department Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
- Department Clinical and Developmental Neuropsychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Alexandros Tsompanidis
- Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Rama J Wahab
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Romy Gaillard
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ezra Aydin
- Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Rosemary Holt
- Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Carrie Allison
- Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Simon Baron-Cohen
- Department of Psychiatry, Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- Department Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Pauline W Jansen
- Department Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
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Zhang R, Birgegård A, Fundín B, Landén M, Thornton LM, Bulik CM, Dinkler L. Association of autism diagnosis and polygenic scores with eating disorder severity. EUROPEAN EATING DISORDERS REVIEW 2022; 30:442-458. [PMID: 35855524 PMCID: PMC9544642 DOI: 10.1002/erv.2941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Revised: 06/28/2022] [Accepted: 07/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Among individuals with eating disorders (ED), those with co‐occurring autism are often considered to have more severe presentations and poorer prognosis. However, previous findings have been contradictory and limited by small sample size and/or cross‐sectional assessment of autistic traits. We examine the hypothesis that autism diagnosis and autism polygenic score (PGS) are associated with increased ED severity in a large ED cohort using a broad range of ED severity indicators. Our cohort included 3189 individuals (64 males) born 1977–2000 with current or previous anorexia nervosa who participated in the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative‐Sweden (ANGI‐SE) and for whom genotypes and linkage to national registers were available. We identified 134 (4.2%) individuals with registered autism diagnoses. Individuals with confirmed autism diagnosis had significantly more severe ED across three sets of severity indicators. Some of the largest effects were found for the proportion of individuals who attempted suicide and who received tube feeding (higher in autism), and for the time spent in inpatient care (longer in autism). Results for autism PGS were not statistically significant. Adapting ED treatment to the needs of individuals with co‐occurring autism is an important research direction to improve treatment outcome in this group. Among 3189 Swedish individuals with current or previous anorexia nervosa, those with confirmed autism diagnosis (4.2%) experienced higher eating disorder severity across 27 out of 29 indicators. Some of the highest risk increases were found for having attempted suicide, having received tube feeding, and time spent in inpatient care for eating disorders. Repeating the analyses with autism polygenic score instead of autism diagnosis yielded non‐statistically significant results for all 29 eating disorder severity indicators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruyue Zhang
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Andreas Birgegård
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Bengt Fundín
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mikael Landén
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Laura M Thornton
- Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Cynthia M Bulik
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Lisa Dinkler
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Waterhouse L. Heterogeneity thwarts autism explanatory power: A proposal for endophenotypes. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:947653. [PMID: 36532199 PMCID: PMC9751779 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.947653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Many researchers now believe that autism heterogeneity is likely to include many disorders, but most research is based on samples defined by the DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) criteria. However, individuals diagnosed with autism have complex and varied biological causes for their symptoms. Therefore, autism is not a unitary biological entity. And although autism is significantly different from typical development, autism is not a unitary clinical disorder because diagnosed individuals vary in symptom patterns, comorbidities, biomarkers, and gene variants. The DSM-5 ASD criteria were designed to reduce heterogeneity, and there have been many other efforts to reduce autism heterogeneity including using more stringent clinical criteria, dividing autism into low and high functioning groups, creating subgroups, and by studying larger samples. However, to date these efforts have not been successful. Heterogeneity is extensive and remains unexplained, and no autism pathophysiology has been discovered. Most importantly, heterogeneity has hindered the explanatory power of the autism diagnosis to discover drug regimens and effective behavioral treatments. The paper proposes that possible transdiagnostic endophenotypes may reduce autism heterogeneity. Searching for transdiagnostic endophenotypes requires exploring autism symptoms outside of the framework of the DSM-5 autism diagnosis. This paper proposes that researchers relax diagnostic criteria to increase the range of phenotypes to support the search for transdiagnostic endophenotypes. The paper proposes possible candidates for transdiagnostic endophenotypes. These candidates are taken from DSM-5 ASD criteria, from concepts that have resulted from researched theories, and from symptoms that are the result of subtyping. The paper then sketches a possible basis for a future transdiagnostic endophenotypes screening tool that includes symptoms of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynn Waterhouse
- The College of New Jersey, Ewing Township, NJ, United States
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