The role of pharmacists in the management of autism spectrum disorder: A survey to determine the knowledge and perception of the parents

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction, limitations and deviations in verbal and nonverbal skills, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. The worldwide prevalence of ASD has been steadily increasing in recent decades. In 2016, the USA National Health Center for Health Statistics reported that ASD could be found in 1 out of 36 children (Christensen et al. 2016; Sharma et al. 2018). Due to the large variation in deficiencies and the deviations in symptoms between patients, the diagnosis of ASD can be quite difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish ASD from other neuropsychiatric disorders, and use appropriate evaluation methods to diagnose correctly in order to improve the clinical management of the disease (National Institute of Mental Health 2018; Baumer and Spence 2018).Recent studies have shown that multiple genetic factors play a role in the development of ASD (Lovato 2019). Siblings of ASD children also carry a higher risk of developing ASD (Bolton et al. 1994). It is reported that genetic and chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down's syndrome or fragile X syndrome, can be found in 10% of the children with ASD (DiGuiseppi et al. 2010; Hall et al. 2008). In addition, parental history of psychiatric disorders, premature birth and fetal exposure to psychotropic drugs, toxins, heavy metals and insecticides have been linked to the pathophysiology of ASD (Cattane et al. 2018; Sharma et al. 2018). With the emergence of possible etiologic causes, new therapy approaches may be introduced in the treatment of ASD (Emberti Gialloreti et al. 2019).