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
This study was designed to estimate prevalence rates of psychological problems in immigrant Iranian children in the UK and to evaluate the associated characteristic. A group of 244 children and adolescents, 111 boys and 133 girls between the ages 6 to 15 was selected. The children were categorised into groups with different psychological problems by their teachers on the Teacher's Report Form [TRF]. Also, the parents and The children completed the Child Behaviour Checklist [CBCL] and the Youth Self-Report [YSR] for The ages 11 to 15 years, respectively. Two-way ANOVAs using gender and age groups as factors showed that there were significant effects of gender in these subscales, Attention problems [p<0.001], delinquent behaviour [p<0.001], aggressive behaviour [p<0.001], externalising [p<0.001] and total problems [p<0.02]. Two-way ANOVAs using age-group and gender as factors showed that there were no significant effects of age in the eight subscales of the CBCL; although a trend toward significance was observed for the withdrawn subscale. The interactions between gender and age for all subscales were not significant. The results show that the level of psychological problems in this group is as high as their counterparts in Iran and Achenbach's US normative samples, if not higher. This might result from immigration stressors and the pressure of bilingual education