EEG abnormalities and clinical phenotypes in pre-school children with autism spectrum disorder

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Abnormalities of Clinical EEG: A Qualitative Review

“…Regarding non-epileptiform SEAs, some authors [ 150 ] assert that they are associated with a less severe phenotype compared with epileptiform SEAs: ASD patients with epileptiform SEAs perform worse on executive functioning assessments and exhibit higher scores in inhibition self-control compared with the ones reporting non-epileptiform SEAs. Among the articles we selected, only two of them relate non-epileptiform SEAs to the phenotype: Akhter, 2021 [ 61 ] reports that they can be found in ASD patients both with ID and without ID and Santarone et al, 2023 [ 54 ] argue that there is a significant association between abnormal background activity during sleep and developmental delay.…”

“…This leads us to suppose that epileptiform SEAs may in some way contribute to determining the autistic phenotype, as proposed by El Achkar and Spence [ 156 ]. Moreover, some authors [ 17 , 145 ] maintain that epileptiform SEAs are significantly associated with abnormal development during the first year of life, and Romero-González et al, 2022 [ 150 ] believe that in preschool children, these abnormalities suggest worse development in ASD clinical features. Other authors [ 137 , 145 ] also maintain that epileptiform SEAs correlate with ASD phenotype severity, in particular, with stereotypies and aggressiveness.…”

“…Nicotera et al, 2019 [ 145 ], state that these abnormalities are also associated with language impairment and intellectual disability, while Hrdlicka et al, 2003 [ 17 ] maintain that there is no significant correlation with the latter. Romero-González et al, 2022 [ 150 ] report that ASD patients with epileptiform SEAs present more affectation, particularly in the areas of prosocial behaviors and social relationships, and tend to exhibit lower adaptive functioning, higher scores on global executive functioning, ASD severity and total scores of coexisting psychiatric problems, even if they do not reach statistical significance. Regarding autistic regression, several authors [ 17 , 109 , 135 , 140 ] believe that there is no significant association with epileptiform SEAs but rather with epilepsy [ 17 ].…”

“…Given what has been reported, several hypotheses attempt to correlate epileptiform SEAs with the pathophysiology of ASD. Some authors maintain that epileptiform discharges, especially if early, with or without seizures, could have a negative impact on brain development, with consequent alteration of cognitive functions and behavior [ 157 ] and also social skills, relational abilities and inhibition control [ 150 ]. Hirosawa et al believe, however, that epileptiform SEAs could have an ambivalent role in the pathophysiology of ASD.…”

Epilepsia e espectro autista: relação do quadro neurológico na faixa etária pediátrica

“…Desde o primeiro relato de vigência simultânea do Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA) e de Epilepsia confirmado por Kanner em 1943, foram levantados questionamentos e realizados inúmeros estudos de modo a provar a associação e implicações entre as duas afecções. Atualmente, de acordo com a literatura, acredita-se que o diagnóstico de epilepsia comprovado com TEA varia de 5 -46%, tendo a prevalência em crianças pré-escolares de 9% (ROMERO-GONZÁLEZ et al, 2022).…”