Characteristics of exploratory behavior in high risk autism spectrum disorder infants / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare the differences in exploratory behaviors between infants with high-risk autism spectrum disorder (HR-ASD) and normal development (TD) infants, and to explore the relationship between exploratory behaviors and the severity of ASD symptoms.Methods:A total of 31 infants aged 6-23 months with HR-ASD in the Pediatric Clinic, the Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2019 to August 2020 were retrospectively recruited in the HR-ASD group, and 37 TD infants aged from 6 to 23 months in Nanjing were selected as the TD group.The development level of the 2 groups was evaluated by Gesell development scale, and the depth and breadth of exploratory behaviors were measured in free play.Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) was used to evaluate the severity of ASD symptoms in HR-ASD group.Differences in exploratory behaviors between the 2 groups were analyzed by the independent sample t-test and Chi- square test. Pearson′ s correlation analysis was performed to explore the correlation between exploratory behaviors and symptom severity in HR-ASD group.Binary Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the discrimination efficiency of sexual behavior in the 2 groups. Results:Compared with TD group, the depth and breadth of exploratory behaviors in HR-ASD group were significantly lower (55.06±25.73 vs.132.78±44.69, 4.42±2.20 vs.8.78±3.28)( t=-8.95, -6.53, all P<0.01), and atypical exploratory behavior and avoidance withdrawal behavior were significantly worse [18 cases(58.06%) vs.6 cases(16.22%), 10 cases(32.26%) vs.3 cases(8.11%)]( χ2=15.30, 6.36, all P<0.05). Significant differences in the frequency and duration of object exploration, environmental exploration and social exploration were detected between HR-ASD group and TD group (3 vs. 0 vs. 0, 45 vs. 0 vs. 0)(all P<0.01). Pearson correlation analysis showed that, the frequency of object exploratory behavior was positively correlated with the dimension of ADOS in HR-AD group ( r=0.40, P<0.05); while the duration of object exploratory behavior, the complexity of object explo-ratory behavior and the depth of exploratory behavior were negatively correlated with CARS score ( r=-0.45, -0.47, -0.42, all P<0.05). The depth of exploratory behavior was negatively correlated with the stereotyped dimension of ADOS ( r=-0.40, P<0.05). Binary Logistic regression analysis showed that the depth of exploratory behavior had a discrimination effect ( P<0.01). Conclusions:The characteristics of exploratory behaviors in HR-ASD infants are abnormal, especially the distinguishing effect on the depth of exploratory behaviors, which can be used as a candidate behavioral index for early screening of ASD.