Use of M-CHAT for a multinational screening of young children with autism in the Arab countries

Abstract

There has been a decline in the mortality rate among infants and children under five years of age in the last decade in many developing countries. This has led to a shift in focus to look beyond survival to the prevention or reduction of impairment and promotion of children's health. With the apparent rise in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the Arab countries the development of an Arabic tool for early diagnosis and intervention was sought as part of an effort to better understand the prevalence of this disorder. The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) was chosen. The study was conducted in nine Arabic speaking countries. The final analysis included 228 children (122 screened positive for ASD). The sensitivity (0.86), the specificity (0.80) and positive predictive value (0.88) were very similar to Robins et al. study (2001). Maternal health problems during pregnancy and labour were found to be more significant for ASD mothers than their control. In addition, child health problems were more evident among ASD subjects as reported by their parents with significant differences from controls. The limitation of the study is that the sample size is not large enough to generalize the results to all countries of the region. The strength of the study is that it is the first known study where Arab countries undertook a collaborative mental health study using the same tool for screening for a specific disorder.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Africa: a perspective

“…The two studies 3,4 that addressed the aspect of epidemiology of ASD among Africans did not assess the prevalence of ASD in the context of the population of children living in Africa. Seif Eldin et al 3 specifically studied Arab countries and Barnevik-Olsson et al 4 determined prevalence of ASD among Somali immigrants living in Sweden.…”

“…A total of twelve papers were published over the last decade on ASD among Africans. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] These papers addressed various aspects of ASD like epidemiology, diagnosis, aetiology and knowledge among Africans and in African countries. Four of the papers came from Nigeria, three from Egypt, two from Sweden, and one each from Tunisia and Tanzania.…”

Autism Spectrum Disorders in Africa

“…A literature review to date shows no school or community based epidemiological studies of autism spectrum disorders in the African continent. The only available study that is closely related was focused on prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children with developmental disorders in the Arab countries (Seif Eldin et al, 2008). This study (Seif Eldin et al, 2008), however included two Northern African countries, namely, Egypt and Tunisia, with predominantly Arabic populations.…”

“…The only available study that is closely related was focused on prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children with developmental disorders in the Arab countries (Seif Eldin et al, 2008). This study (Seif Eldin et al, 2008), however included two Northern African countries, namely, Egypt and Tunisia, with predominantly Arabic populations. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders among children with developmental disorders in Egypt and Tunisia were documented to be 33.6% and 11.5% respectively (Seif Eldin et al, 2008).…”

“…This study (Seif Eldin et al, 2008), however included two Northern African countries, namely, Egypt and Tunisia, with predominantly Arabic populations. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders among children with developmental disorders in Egypt and Tunisia were documented to be 33.6% and 11.5% respectively (Seif Eldin et al, 2008). The prevalence figures are quite higher if compared against the earlier finding by Lotter who documented a prevalence of 9 in 1,312 (approximately 0.7%) among intellectually disabled children (Lotter, 1978).…”