Mid-childhood outcomes of infant siblings at familial high-risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Shephard, E. and Milosavljevic, Bosiljka and Pasco, G. and Jones, Emily J.H. and Gliga, Teodora and Happe, F. and Johnson, Mark H. and Charman, T. (2017) Mid-childhood outcomes of infant siblings at familial high-risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Research 10 (3), pp. 546-557. ISSN 1939-3792.

Abstract

Almost one-in-five infants at high familial risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), due to having an older sibling with an ASD diagnosis, develop ASD themselves by age 3 years. Less is known about the longer-term outcomes of high-risk infants. To address this issue, we examined symptoms of ASD and associated developmental conditions (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); anxiety), language, IQ, and adaptive behaviour at age 7 years in high- and low-risk children studied from infancy. We compared outcomes between high-risk children who met criteria for ASD at age 7, high-risk children without ASD, and low-risk control children. Diagnostic stability between 3 and 7 years was moderate. High-risk siblings with ASD showed elevated levels of ADHD and anxiety symptoms and lower adaptive behaviour than low-risk control children. High-risk siblings without ASD had higher repetitive behaviours, lower adaptive functioning, and elevated scores on one anxiety subscale (Separation Anxiety) compared to low-risk controls. The findings indicate that the difficulties experienced by high-risk siblings at school age extend beyond ASD symptoms. Better understanding of these difficulties may improve models of the development of co-occurring problems seen in children with ASD. Autism Res 2016.

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