ABSTRACT
This study aimed to obtain the first national estimate of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Chinese children. We targeted the population of 6 to 12-year-old children for this prevalence study by multistage convenient cluster sampling. The Modified Chinese Autism Spectrum Rating Scale was used for the screening process. Of the target population of 142,086 children, 88.5% (n = 125,806) participated in the study. A total of 363 children were confirmed as having ASD. The observed ASD prevalence rate was 0.29% (95% CI: 0.26%-0.32%) for the overall population. After adjustment for response rates, the estimated number of ASD cases was 867 in the target population sample, thereby achieving an estimated prevalence of 0.70% (95% CI: 0.64%-0.74%). The prevalence was significantly higher in boys than in girls (0.95%; 95% CI: 0.87%-1.02% versus 0.30%; 95% CI: 0.26%-0.34%; P < 0.001). Of the 363 confirmed ASD cases, 43.3% were newly diagnosed, and most of those (90.4%) were attending regular schools, and 68.8% of the children with ASD had at least one neuropsychiatric comorbidity. Our findings provide reliable data on the estimated ASD prevalence and comorbidities in Chinese children.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to obtain the first national estimate of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Chinese children. We targeted the population of 6 to 12-year-old children for this prevalence study by multistage convenient cluster sampling. The Modified Chinese Autism Spectrum Rating Scale was used for the screening process. Of the target population of 142,086 children, 88.5% (n = 125,806) participated in the study. A total of 363 children were confirmed as having ASD. The observed ASD prevalence rate was 0.29% (95% CI: 0.26%-0.32%) for the overall population. After adjustment for response rates, the estimated number of ASD cases was 867 in the target population sample, thereby achieving an estimated prevalence of 0.70% (95% CI: 0.64%-0.74%). The prevalence was significantly higher in boys than in girls (0.95%; 95% CI: 0.87%-1.02% versus 0.30%; 95% CI: 0.26%-0.34%; P < 0.001). Of the 363 confirmed ASD cases, 43.3% were newly diagnosed, and most of those (90.4%) were attending regular schools, and 68.8% of the children with ASD had at least one neuropsychiatric comorbidity. Our findings provide reliable data on the estimated ASD prevalence and comorbidities in Chinese children.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the clinical and genetic characteristics, treatment. and prognosis of dopamine responsive dystonia (DRD) in children. Method The clinical data of DRD in 3 children admitted to neurology clinic from January 2014 to August 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Results Two male children, 20-month-old and 2-year-old respectively, and one 4-year-old female child suffered from hypotonia after birth or one year after birth. Genetic testing found that case 1 had heterozygous mutations in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene, C. G943A (p. G315S) from his mother (PMID 20056467) and C. G739A (p. G247S) from his father (PMID 18554280, 24753243) . Case 2 had a heterozygous mutation, c.454-2A＞G, in GCH-1 gene, which was identified to be from his father (PMID 10732814) . Case 3 had two mutations in TH1 gene, c.580+2T>C from her mother (novel mutation) and c.698G>A (p.R233H) from her father (PMID 9703425) . The mother of case 1 was pregnant again. Prenatal examination revealed that the fetus only carried c.G943A (p.G315S) from the mother. Three patients were treated with a small dose of madopar after diagnosis, and gradually increased to obtain the best effect. After 6-month follow-up, cases 1 and 2 recovered to normal, and case 3 showed significant improvement in dystonia, but left foot deformity. Conclusion DRD can start in infants and young children with atypical early symptoms. Genetic testing can make a definite diagnosis. The family that has proband should undergo prenatal examination.
ABSTRACT
The Autism Spectrum Rating Scale (ASRS) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) have been widely used for screening autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general population during epidemiological studies, but studies of individuals with intellectual disability (ID) are quite limited. Therefore, we recruited the parents/caregivers of 204 ASD cases, 71 ID cases aged 6-18 years from special education schools, and 402 typically developing (TD) children in the same age span from a community-based population to complete the ASRS and SRS. The results showed that the ID group scored significantly lower on total and subscale scores than the ASD group on both scales (P < 0.05) but higher than TD children (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic analyses demonstrated a similar fair performance in discriminating ASD from ID with the ASRS (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.709, sensitivity = 77.0%, specificity = 52.1%, positive predictive value (PPV) = 82.2%) and the SRS (AUC = 0.742, sensitivity = 59.8%, specificity = 77.5%, PPV = 88.4%). The results showed that individuals with ID had clear autistic traits and discriminating ASD from ID cases was quite challenging, while assessment tools such as ASRS and SRS, help to some degree.