A comparative study of development and symptoms among disintegrative psychosis and infantile autism with an without speech loss

Abstract

To investigate clinical pictures and the validity of disintegrative psychosis (DP) as defined in ICD-9, 18 cases of DP were compared with 51 and 145 cases of infantile autism (IA) with and without speech loss, respectively, on clinical variables. The DP cases showed clearer regression after more satisfactory development than the IA cases with speech loss. Around age 7, about 4 years after regression, those with DP were significantly more severely retarded than those with IA, yet both were similar in autistic symptomatology. EEG abnormalities and mothers 30 or older at delivery were significantly more common in the histories of those with DP than of those with IA. DP may be linked with IA having speech loss with regression in mental development as a common denominator.

Familial Autoimmune Thyroid Disease as a Risk Factor for Regression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A CPEA Study

“…Several investigators have reported a difference in cognitive ability between regression and nonregression groups at school age, finding lower mean IQ scores in children with a history of regression (Burack & Volkmar, 1992;Kobayashi & Murata, 1998;Kurita, Kita, & Miyake, 1992). In their report citing no evidence for a new variant of MMR-induced autism, Fombonne and Chakrabarti found no differences between regression and nonregression groups on symptom severity as measured by ADI scores, but they did report a difference in cognitive functioning that approached significance, with 46.1% of children in the regression group having an IQ<70 compared to 21.5% of the nonregression group (p=0.08, Fisher's exact test) (Fombonne & Chakrabarti, 2001).…”

The Genetics of Autism

“…[25][26][27][33][34][35] The epilepsy may be subclinical, yielding an electroencephalogram that is epileptiform but without clinical seizures, and is particularly frequent in disintegrative disorder. 36 Like autism, epilepsy is a disorder of the brain with multiple genetic and nongenetic causes and a broad range of phenotypes. Infantile spasms are particularly likely to result in autism with nondevelopment of language and mental retardation, especially when the epileptiform activity involves both temporal lobes.…”

Clinical characteristics of language regression in children

“…This contrasts with the examiner's practice, which is heavily skewed toward young children with language disorders and autism. Nonetheless, the findings in the two studies suggest that there is a real difference between language regression in younger children, in whom regression tends to be more global and associated with the emergence of autism, and that in older children, in whom it is somewhat more likely to be restricted to language and associated with epilepsy in the form of classic Landau-Kleffner syndrome (Kurita 1985, Deonna 1991, Kurita et al 1992, Mantovani 2000.…”

“…The third of parents of children with autism report language regression between 18 and 24 months of age, and 95% before age 3 years, whereas only 13% of children with Landau-Kleffner syndrome regress before that age (Deonna 1991, Kurita et al 1992, Rapin 1997, Tuchman and Rapin 1997, Mantovani 2000. Autistic regression is global by definition, whereas in Landau-Kleffner syndrome behavioral problems develop as a reaction to the child's emotional frustration at being unable to communicate adequately, and to the experience of social rejection, isolation, and low selfesteem.…”