Mood symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA) are psychiatric conditions belonging to the Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), characterized by social dysfunction and focused interest, in the absence of mental retardation. Previous reports suggest that AS/HFA may be associated with important psychiatric comorbidities. Among the psychiatric internalizing disorders, depression and anxiety are probably the most common disorders. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of mood disorders and identifying peculiar clinical features in subjects suffering from AS and HFA. 30 male patients with AS/HFA, 30 male patients affected by Major Depression (MD) and 35 male Typically Developing (TD) comparison were assessed with the CDI and the CDRS-R. Participants' parents were invited to complete the CBCL and the P-YMRS. Moreover, the CGAS was rated by the clinicians. The evaluation of depressive symptoms showed that AS/HFA group reported higher depressive symptoms, as showed by CDI total, CBCL internalizing and CDRS-R total, compared to the TD group. No significant difference of depressive symptoms was found between the AS/HFA and the MD group, with the exception of CDRS-R total score. Moreover, linear regression analysis in the AS/HFA group between CGAS and depressive symptoms revealed that a higher level of depressive symptoms increased the risk of poorer global functioning. These results suggest that the depressive symptoms in AS/HFA patients may be associated with poorer global functioning, with a consequent impairment in their psychological profile and social adjustment, and should alert clinicians to the importance of assessing mood disorders in order to choose the appropriate treatment.

Boys with Asperger Syndrome Grow Up: Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Disorders 20 Years After Initial Diagnosis

“…Depression is clearly also a very common problem in AS (Mazzone et al 2013;Lugnegård et al 2011) and needs to be monitored in all patients at every follow-up point. Depression in AS may be related to ongoing bullying or It is perhaps of significance that there was only one case of schizophrenic psychosis in the whole sample.…”

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Translating human deficits into mouse behavior

“…In recent years several efforts have been made to assess the correlation between ASD and mood disorders (Mazzone et al, 2013;Mazzone et al, 2012;Pine et al, 2008;Simonoff et al, 2013;Simonoff et al, 2012;Towbin et al, 2005).…”

Longitudinal comparison between male and female preschool children with autism spectrum disorder

“…Regarding co-occurring comorbid psychopathology among samples with ASD, the majority of studies failed to identify any gender differences (Hofvander et al 2009;Lugnegard et al 2011;Matson and Nebel-Schwalm 2007;Park et al 2012;Simonoff et al 2008;Lai et al 2011;Mazzone et al 2013). However, some studies reported that girls with ASD appeared to be at greater risk than boys for internalizing psychopathology (Solomon et al 2012;Mazzone et al 2012).…”