Profile of Children suspected of ASD in a Tertiary Care Centre

Abstract

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition seen in children during their early develop-mental phase where children lack in achieving age-appropriate skills or they are unable to meet the social demands due to limited capacities. It is characterised by impairments in social communication, interaction and presence of restrictive, repetitive interests/behaviours. Prevalence of ASD has increased in recent times which warrants for early identification and intervention. *The word Autism is used in this study to denote Autism Spectrum Disorders. Aim: To study the profile of children less than 5yrs of age specifically brought for suspicion of ASD by parents. Methodology: This is a cross sectional descriptive study conducted at Child Psychiatry Department of Asha Hospital for 1year with children less than 5yrs of age. 44 children with suspicion of ASD, brought by parents were evaluated through clinical inter-view using DSM-5, psychological tests- Developmental screening test, CARS-2(Childhood Autism Rating Scale), M-CHAT and CBCL. Results: Most children were between 3-5yrs of age (68.18%), were predominantly males (72.73%), 47.73% had significant prena-tal factors, 22.73% of mothers had preterm delivery, 27.27% had postnatal complications, 36.36% of children had Delayed mile-stones and 59.09% speech delay. The symptoms presented were, ‘poor/no’ response to name (90.90%), poor Eye-Eye contact (95.46%), poor socialisation (97.73%), stereotypic behaviour (81.18%) and sensory issues (52.27%). ADHD (54.54%) & intel-lectual disability (95.45%) were the common psychiatric comorbidity.18.18% children had mild autism and 15.90% children were at a risk of autism. Conclusions: The symptoms presented by parents for suspicion of autism were depicted to be either mild or risk of ASD on screening