Cognitive flexibility in autism: Evidence from young autistic children

Ανδρέου, Μαρία; Konstantopoulos, Kostas; Peristeri, Eleni

doi:10.1002/aur.2828

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…However, associations were most pronounced among girls . Although we did not observe sex-specific associations in the current study, higher MUF SG was associated with higher symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and anxiety, which are also associated with poorer cognitive flexibility . Another recent study conducted in the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) cohort found that higher creatinine-adjusted MUF was associated with higher scores on measures of inattention and overall ADHD symptoms from ages 6 to 12 years.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 94%

“… 13 Although we did not observe sex-specific associations in the current study, higher MUF SG was associated with higher symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder and anxiety, which are also associated with poorer cognitive flexibility. 27 , 28 , 29 Another recent study 12 conducted in the Early Life Exposures in Mexico to Environmental Toxicants (ELEMENT) cohort found that higher creatinine-adjusted MUF was associated with higher scores on measures of inattention and overall ADHD symptoms from ages 6 to 12 years. While we did not find associations of MUF SG with symptoms of inattention or ADHD, this may reflect the timing of neurobehavioral assessment because symptoms of inattention are more difficult to assess (and ADHD is more difficult to diagnose) in children younger than 4 years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maternal Urinary Fluoride and Child Neurobehavior at Age 36 Months

Malin,

Eckel,

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

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ImportanceRecent studies in Canadian and Mexican populations suggest an association of higher prenatal fluoride exposure with poorer neurobehavioral development, but whether this association holds for US-based populations is unknown.ObjectiveTo examine associations of third trimester maternal urinary fluoride (MUF) with child neurobehavior at age 3 years in the US.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis prospective cohort study utilized urine samples archived from 2017 to 2020 and neurobehavioral data assessed from 2020 to 2023 from the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) pregnancy cohort, which consisted of predominately Hispanic women residing in Los Angeles, California. Cohort eligibility criteria at recruitment included being 18 years of age or older, less than 30 weeks’ gestation, and a fluent English or Spanish speaker. Exclusion criteria included having a disability preventing participation or provision of informed consent, being HIV positive or incarcerated, and having a multiple gestation pregnancy. There were 263 mother-child pairs who completed the 3-year study visit. In this analysis, women who reported prenatal smoking were excluded. Data analysis was conducted from October 2022 to March 2024.ExposureSpecific gravity-adjusted MUF (MUFSG), a biomarker of prenatal fluoride exposure.Main Outcomes and MeasuresNeurobehavior was quantified using the Preschool Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), which included composite scores for Total Problems, Internalizing Problems, and Externalizing Problems. CBCL composite T scores range from 28 to 100. T scores from 60 to 63 are in the borderline clinical range, whereas scores above 63 are in the clinical range. Linear and logistic regression models adjusted for covariates were conducted.ResultsA total of 229 mother-child pairs (mean [SD] maternal age, 29.45 [5.67] years; 116 female children [50.7%] and 113 male children [49.3%]) who had MUFSG measured were included in the study. Median (IQR) MUFSG was 0.76 (0.51-1.19) mg/L, and 32 participants (14.0%) had a Total Problems T score in the borderline clinical or clinical range. A 1-IQR (0.68 mg/L) increase in MUFSG was associated with nearly double the odds of the Total Problems T score being in the borderline clinical or clinical range (odds ratio, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.17-2.86; P = .008), as well as with a 2.29-point increase in T score for the Internalizing Problems composite (B = 2.29; 95% CI, 0.47-4.11; P = .01) and a 2.14-point increase in T score for the Total Problems composite (B = 2.14; 95% CI, 0.29-3.98; P = .02).Conclusions and RelevanceIn this prospective cohort study of mother-child pairs in Los Angeles, California, prenatal fluoride exposure was associated with increased neurobehavioral problems. These findings suggest that there may be a need to establish recommendations for limiting fluoride exposure during the prenatal period.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Urinary Fluoride and Child Neurobehavior at Age 36 Months

Malin,

Eckel,

et al. 2024

JAMA Netw Open

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“…The fact that the current study found either a decline or a mild rise in PIQ scores across the three clusters longitudinally, but no signs of considerable improvement—at least not of the size of the improvement that autistic children in Cluster 1 exhibited in their VIQ scores, implies that the developmental progress in autistic children's visuospatial abilities was rather limited. PIQ vulnerability may signal a cognitive deficit in autism that impacts children's ability to perform in non‐language‐mediated tasks that rely heavily on visual‐motor coordination (Faber et al, 2022; Miller et al, 2014) and executive function skills (Andreou et al, 2022; Memari et al, 2013; Mostert‐Kerckhoffs et al, 2015; Peristeri et al, 2021). Interestingly, a very small cluster in TD children ( n = 6; Cluster 2) exhibited almost identical PIQ trajectories to Cluster 2 in the autistic children, further suggesting that constrained PIQ growth may not be specific to autism at least for the specific time window (5‐to‐9 years).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intellectual development in young children with autism spectrum disorders: A longitudinal study

Peristeri,

Andreou

2024

Autism Research

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Intelligence profiles in autism have been characterized by great variability. The questions of how autistic children's intelligence changes over time, and what factors influence these changes deserve study as part of efforts to document child autism profiles, but also because the relationship between intellectual functioning and children's background characteristics is poorly understood, particularly in a longitudinal context. A total of 39 autistic children and 39 age‐matched neurotypical children (5–9 years old) completed two IQ assessments at preschool age and up to 4 years later. Repeated‐measures analyses assessed longitudinal changes in the children's verbal (VIQ), performance (PIQ), and full‐scale IQ (FSIQ) at group level. We further sought to identify clusters with distinct profiles in each group by adopting an unsupervised K‐means clustering approach, and detect possible between‐subgroup differences in terms of children's socioeconomic status and autism severity. The largest cluster in the autistic group was composed of children whose PIQ significantly dropped at follow‐up, while the second largest cluster improved in all quotients; the smallest cluster, wherein children had more highly educated mothers than the rest of the clusters, was characterized by large improvement in VIQ. For the neurotypical children, there was a two‐cluster division; the majority of them improved in the three quotients, while very few dropped in PIQ at follow‐up. The relation between socioeconomic status and IQ changes was significant for both groups. The findings demonstrate both the complexity of intelligence changes in autism and the need to view this complexity through the lens of the children's socioeconomic diversity.

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Cognitive flexibility in autism: Evidence from young autistic children

2022

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We examined the cognitive flexibility performance of young autistic children and a group of neurotypical peers. Thirty‐six autistic children (72–83 months) and 200 age‐matched typically‐developing children were assessed on the Children's Color Trails Test (CCTT), a semantic and a phonemic verbal fluency task. The results showed that the autistic children performed worse than their neurotypical peers in the switching component of the CCTT. In the fluency tests, the autistic group generated overall fewer word items than their neurotypical peers, however, their poorer performance was driven by specific linguistic stimuli in the fluency tasks. The findings suggest that cognitive flexibility for the autistic children was affected in the nonverbal CCTT only, while poor performance in semantic and phonemic fluency seemed to be inherent to the language properties of the verbal fluency tasks.

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Cognitive flexibility in autism: Evidence from young autistic children

Cited by 9 publications

References 78 publications

Maternal Urinary Fluoride and Child Neurobehavior at Age 36 Months

Maternal Urinary Fluoride and Child Neurobehavior at Age 36 Months

Intellectual development in young children with autism spectrum disorders: A longitudinal study

Cognitive flexibility in autism: Evidence from young autistic children

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