ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To determine whether familial transmission is shared between autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, we assessed the prevalence, rates of comorbidity, and familial transmission of both disorders in a large population-based sample of children during a recent 7 year period. METHODS: Study participants included all children born to parents with the Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KPNW) Health Plan between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2004 (n = 35,073). Children and mothers with physician-identified autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were identified via electronic medical records maintained for all KPNW members. RESULTS: Among children aged 6-12 years, prevalence was 2.0% for ADHD and 0.8% for ASD; within those groups, 0.2% of the full sample (19% of the ASD sample and 9.6% of the ADHD sample) had co-occurring ASD and ADHD, when all children were included. When mothers had a diagnosis of ADHD, first born offspring were at 6-fold risk of ADHD alone (OR = 5.02, p < .0001) and at 2.5-fold risk of ASD alone (OR = 2.52, p < .01). Results were not accounted for by maternal age, child gestational age, child gender, and child race. CONCLUSIONS: Autism spectrum disorders shares familial transmission with ADHD. ADHD and ASD have a partially overlapping diathesis.
Subject(s)
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/epidemiology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/genetics , Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/epidemiology , Child Development Disorders, Pervasive/genetics , Mothers/statistics & numerical data , Child , Comorbidity , Female , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Humans , Male , Northwestern United States/epidemiology , PrevalenceABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To determine if the insulin-like-growth factor (IGF-I) generation test is a marker for growth hormone (GH) sensitivity in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: This was a randomized cross-over study in which children with CKD received low-dose (0.025 mg/kg/day) and high-dose (0.05 mg/kg/day) GH therapy in the framework of a 7-day IGF-I generation test. Blood samples were collected on day 1 (D1; pre-dose) and on day 8 (D8; post 7 doses) of GH therapy. All subjects received GH for 12 months at 0.05 mg/kg/day. Serum IGF-I was measured by radioimmunometric assay. Normative historic data from healthy children and those with idiopathic short stature were used for comparison. RESULTS: Sixteen subjects (age 2-13 years) with creatinine clearances of between 25 and 75 ml/min/1.73 m(2) were enrolled. Annualized height velocity for all subjects was 10.3 ± 1.1 cm/year (mean ± standard deviation), with an annual change in height Z score of 0.7 ± 1.0. No correlation was found between the generated serum IGF-I levels (D8 - D1) and creatinine clearances, and with changes in height Z scores. Serum IGF-I levels on D1 and D8 in CKD subjects were lower than normative data, but with adequate IGF-I generation on D8. CONCLUSIONS: Children with CKD were able to respond to GH therapy with both growth and an increase in serum IGF-I levels, but the IGF-I generation test was not a good predictor of growth response in this cohort.
