Autism, affective disorders, and social phobia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that major affective and/or anxiety disorders are increased among relatives of autistic probands compared with controls. Among 36 families with an autistic child, 23 (64%) have a first degree relative diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 14 (39%) have a first degree relative diagnosed with social phobia. These rates are significantly greater than the 19% and 5%, respectively, found among 21 families with a child having a genetic condition, tuberous sclerosis complex, or a seizure disorder but no autism. The frequency of major depression among the 96 first degree relatives of autistic probands is 37.5% compared with 11.1% found among 45 relatives of control probands. The frequency of social phobia, 20.2%, is approximately 10 times more common than that found among the relatives of the control probands (2.4%). Elevated rates of both major depression and social phobia are found among parents and siblings in the families with an autistic child. Furthermore, 64% of parents affected with a major depression had the onset of the first depressive episode prior to the birth of the autistic child and all parents with social phobia had the onset of condition prior to the birth of the autistic child. Family patterns differ depending on the intellectual level of the autistic child; specifically, social phobia is significantly greater among the first degree relatives of non-retarded autistic probands than among relatives of individuals with autism and comorbid mental retardation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Parent-Rated Anxiety Symptoms in Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders: Frequency and Association with Core Autism Symptoms and Cognitive Functioning

“…However, there is also evidence that children with autism and severe mental retardation have higher levels of anxiety than children of similar cognitive functioning without autism (Bradley et al 2004). The observation that both symptoms of simple phobia and social phobia were equally common in higher and lower IQ subjects is intriguing, and might be hypothesized to show that these specific forms of anxiety fall closer to the core phenotype of the PDDs as opposed to representing comorbidities, as also suggested by family studies (Smalley et al 1995). Our data also showed that in children with IQ below 70, the correlations of anxiety with hyperactivity and inappropriate speech were significantly stronger than in children with IQ above 70.…”

Fluoxetine response in children with autistic spectrum disorders: correlation with familial major affective disorder and intellectual achievement

“…This hypothesis is strengthened by finding a sizable homogeneous group of children with autism who have a family history of major affective disorder, have symptoms of affective disorder themselves, and respond to a SSRI used also to treat major affective disorders. A high incidence of major affective disorders has been observed repeatedly in the family histories of children with autism in comparison with control groups and/or population rates (DeLong and Dwyer 1988, Piven et al 1990, Smalley et al 1995, Bolton et al 1998). However, there has been scant attention given to the similarities of autistic symptomatology and that of affective disorders.…”

“…Others have implied that autism in some forms may represent a variant in the genetic expression of depression (Cook et al 1994, Smalley et al 1995. Ghaziuddin and Greden (1998) consider depression to be a distinct, presumably incidental, condition in some children with autism/pervasive developmental disorder, but they have not related this to the incidence of major affective disorder in the families nor to the etiology of autism.…”

“…We found that approximately 70% of young children with autism had a family history of major affective disorder (DeLong and Dwyer 1988;Piven et al 1990Piven et al , 1991DeLong and Nohria 1994;DeLong 1994;Smalley et al 1995), and this correlated with a positive response to fluoxetine (DeLong et al 1998). The occurrence of unusual intellectual achievement within the families of children with autistic spectrum disorder has proved to be a notable addition to these correlating features.…”

Association between a GABRB3 polymorphism and autism

“…18,19 Therefore, given its role in anxiety, the GABAA receptor might be considered a candidate gene for autism. The GABAA receptor also appears to play a role in several behaviors associated with autism; mice with a targeted deletion of the murine garb3 gene are hyper-responsive to human contact, fail to nurture offspring, are hyperactive, often run in tight circles, and have occasional epilepsy.…”