Clinical analysis of sensory abnormalities in children with autism spectrum disorder / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the abnormal sensory manifestations of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).Methods:A total of 269 ASD children with sensory symptoms (ASD toddler group under 3 years old( n=110), and ASD preschool children 3-6 years old( n=159)) were investigated by self-made children's sensory abnormality questionnaire, and 175 typically developing(TD) children were compared.SPSS 26.0 software was used for statistical analysis, including descriptive statistics, t test and χ 2 test. Results:The incidence of sensory abnormalities in ASD group was 95.17%, which was higher than that in TD group (78.86%; χ 2=28.224, P<0.001), and the incidence of multiple sensory domain symptoms in ASD group was 84.77%, which was higher than that in TD group (63.77%; χ 2= 22.608, P<0.001). The incidence of sensory symptoms in ASD toddler group was 98.18%, which was not statistically different from that in TD toddler group (92.59%)(χ 2=3.210, P=0.073). The incidence of multiple sensory domain symptoms in ASD toddler group was higher (85.19%), which was statistically different from that in TD toddler group (66.00%)(χ 2=7.613, P=0.006). In the four items of sensory symptoms (auditory hyperresponsiveness, auditory sensory seeking, tactile hyperresponsiveness and tactile sensory seeking), the proportion of moderate to severe of the first three items in ASD group were 66.67%, 72.08% and 61.54%, which were higher than those in TD group (46.81%, 56.36% and 38.46%)(χ 2= 9.652, P=0.002, χ 2= 7.822, P=0.005, χ 2= 4.631, P=0.031), but the proportion of moderate to severe of four items in ASD toddler group were not statistically different from that in TD toddler group at all ( P>0.05). The incidence of functional impairment caused by four items of sensory symptoms in ASD group (68.55%, 65.99%, 63.25% and 48.87%) was higher than those in TD group (45.74%, 28.18%, 26.92% and 27.12%) (χ 2= 12.814, P<0.001; χ 2= 40.456, P<0.001; χ 2= 11.429, P=0.001; χ 2= 7.930, P=0.005). The incidence of functional impairment caused by auditory sensory seeking and tactile hyperresponsiveness in ASD toddler group (57.65% and 55.56%) was higher than that in TD toddler group (31.58% and 0) and the incidence of the other two symptoms in these two groups were not statistically different.There was no statistical difference in the incidence of sensory symptoms between ASD toddler group and ASD preschool group, neither the incidence of multiple sensory domain symptoms ( P>0.05). Conclusion:Sensory abnormalities are common in autistic children, and most of them involve two or more sensory domains. Attention should be paid to the occurrence, quantity, degree and functional impairment of their symptoms.