A prospective study of autistic-like traits in unaffected siblings of probands with autism spectrum disorder. Georgiades, S., Szatmari, P., Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Brian, J., Roberts, W., Smith, I., Vaillancourt, T., Roncadin, C., & Garon, N. JAMA Psychiatry, 70(1):42--48, January, 2013.
A prospective study of autistic-like traits in unaffected siblings of probands with autism spectrum disorder [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
CONTEXT: The presence of autistic-like traits in relatives of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is well recognized, but, to our knowledge, the emergence of these traits early in development has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: To prospectively investigate the emergence of autistic-like traits in unaffected (no ASD diagnosis) infant siblings of probands diagnosed as having ASD. DESIGN: Two groups of children unaffected with ASD were assessed prospectively-siblings of probands diagnosed as having ASD (high risk [HR]) and control subjects with no family history of ASD (low risk [LR]). Scores on a measure of autistic-like traits at 12 months of age were used in a cluster analysis of the entire sample. SETTING: A prospective study of infant siblings of probands with ASD from 3 diagnostic centers in Canada. PARTICIPANTS: The study included 170 HR and 90 LR children, none of whom was diagnosed as having ASD at age 3 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Autism Observation Scale for Infants was used to measure autistic-like traits and derive clusters at 12 months of age. Clusters were compared on ASD symptoms, cognitive abilities, and social-emotional difficulties at age 3 years. RESULTS: Two clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (n = 37; 14.2% of total sample) had significantly higher levels of autistic-like traits compared with cluster 2. Within cluster 1, 33 children came from the siblings (19.4% of HR group) and only 4 came from the control subjects (4.5% of LR group). At age 3 years, children from cluster 1 had more social-communication impairment (effect size \textgreater 0.70; P \textless .001), lower cognitive abilities (effect size = -0.59; P \textless .005), and more internalizing problems (effect size = 0.55; P = .01). Compared with control subjects, HR siblings had a relative risk of 4.3 (95% CI,1.6-11.9) for membership in cluster 1. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings suggest the emergence of autistic-like traits resembling a broader autism phenotype by 12 months of age in approximately 19% of HR siblings who did not meet ASD diagnostic criteria at age 3 years.
@article{georgiades_prospective_2013,
	title = {A prospective study of autistic-like traits in unaffected siblings of probands with autism spectrum disorder},
	volume = {70},
	issn = {2168-622X},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.1},
	doi = {10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.1},
	abstract = {CONTEXT: The presence of autistic-like traits in relatives of individuals
with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is well recognized, but, to our
knowledge, the emergence of these traits early in development has not been
studied. OBJECTIVE: To prospectively investigate the emergence of
autistic-like traits in unaffected (no ASD diagnosis) infant siblings of
probands diagnosed as having ASD. DESIGN: Two groups of children
unaffected with ASD were assessed prospectively-siblings of probands
diagnosed as having ASD (high risk [HR]) and control subjects with no
family history of ASD (low risk [LR]). Scores on a measure of
autistic-like traits at 12 months of age were used in a cluster analysis
of the entire sample. SETTING: A prospective study of infant siblings of
probands with ASD from 3 diagnostic centers in Canada. PARTICIPANTS: The
study included 170 HR and 90 LR children, none of whom was diagnosed as
having ASD at age 3 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Autism Observation
Scale for Infants was used to measure autistic-like traits and derive
clusters at 12 months of age. Clusters were compared on ASD symptoms,
cognitive abilities, and social-emotional difficulties at age 3 years.
RESULTS: Two clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (n = 37; 14.2\% of total
sample) had significantly higher levels of autistic-like traits compared
with cluster 2. Within cluster 1, 33 children came from the siblings
(19.4\% of HR group) and only 4 came from the control subjects (4.5\% of LR
group). At age 3 years, children from cluster 1 had more
social-communication impairment (effect size {\textgreater} 0.70; P {\textless} .001), lower
cognitive abilities (effect size = -0.59; P {\textless} .005), and more
internalizing problems (effect size = 0.55; P = .01). Compared with
control subjects, HR siblings had a relative risk of 4.3 (95\% CI,1.6-11.9)
for membership in cluster 1. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings suggest the
emergence of autistic-like traits resembling a broader autism phenotype by
12 months of age in approximately 19\% of HR siblings who did not meet ASD
diagnostic criteria at age 3 years.},
	number = {1},
	journal = {JAMA Psychiatry},
	author = {Georgiades, Stelios and Szatmari, Peter and Zwaigenbaum, Lonnie and Bryson, Susan and Brian, Jessica and Roberts, Wendy and Smith, Isabel and Vaillancourt, Tracy and Roncadin, Caroline and Garon, Nancy},
	month = jan,
	year = {2013},
	keywords = {Archive},
	pages = {42--48}
}

Downloads: 0