Comorbid Symptomology in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Evidence-based treatment must begin with the systematic and comprehensive identification of an individual's complete clinical picture. Therefore, screening individuals with intellectual disability (ID) for comorbid disorders is imperative. Because of the frequent overlap between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and ID, the current study explored the effects of co-occurring ASD on the comorbid symptoms exhibited by adults with ID. The study included 307 adults with severe or profound ID separated into two groups: ASD+ID and ID only. The ASD+ID group exhibited significantly more symptomology on eight of the 12 subscales examined including anxiety, mania, schizophrenia, stereotypies/tics, self-injurious behavior, eating disorders, sexual disorders, and impulse control. Further, comparisons of specific symptom endorsements yielded distinct results.

Risk factors and topographies for self‐injurious behaviour in a sample of adults with intellectual developmental disorders

“…Self-injurious behaviour was more frequent in subjects with ID and co-morbid ASD symptoms according to CARS scores than in those with ID only, and they displayed a higher number of different SIB topographies. This is in line with a recent study that compared distinct patterns of SIB in individuals with ASD and ID and in individuals with ID only (Cervantes & Matson 2015).…”

Gene-set analysis shows association between FMRP targets and autism spectrum disorder

“…A general concern in psychiatric disorders is phenotypic heterogeneity and in ASD heterogeneity in intellectual disability (ID), 51 is one of these concerns. As ID was not an exclusion criterion in our study, we cannot ensure with 100% certainty that our results are not partly driven by ID.…”

Screening for ASD in adults with ID—moving toward a standard using the DiBAS‐R and the ACL

“…; Matson & Shoemaker ; White et al . ; Matson & Williams ; Cervantes & Matson ), as well as neurological co‐morbidities, like epilepsy and visual impairments (Hoevenaars‐van den Boom et al . ; Matson & Shoemaker ; De Vaan et al .…”

“…First, diagnostic overshadowing is a common phenomenon in persons with ID (Reiss et al 1982), and the overlapping symptoms in ID and ASD further increase the challenge, especially when the severity of ID increases (Matson & Shoemaker 2009;. Second, diagnosing ASD is difficult because of cooccurring mental disorders, such as mood and anxiety disorders or ADHD (Tsakanikos et al 2006;Matson & Shoemaker 2009;White et al 2009;Matson & Williams 2014;Cervantes & Matson 2015), as well as neurological co-morbidities, like epilepsy and visual impairments (Hoevenaars-van den Boom et al 2009;Matson & Shoemaker 2009;De Vaan et al 2013). Furthermore, ASD may not be recognised because of the use of antipsychotic medication in ID (Spencer et al 2013).…”