Editor's Choice Academic Journal Main Category: Autism Also Included In: ADHD Article Date: 05 Jun 2013 - 10:00 PDT
Current ratings for: A Third Of Autism Cases Also Have ADHD Symptoms
The study, which was published in Autism: The International Journal and Practice, identified a significant co-occurrence of ADHD and ASD.
The researchers identified that children with ASD who showed signs of ADHD were much more likely to have impaired cognitive, social and adaptive functioning, compared to children with just an ASD.
Social problems in children with autism and ADHD were had been analyzed in a previous study, which revealed that children with both autism and attention deficit or attention deficit hyperactivity disorders are four times more likely to bully than children in the general population.
Most previous studies that have identified a link between ASD and ADHD have been based on patients seeking treatment from clinics (which makes them biased towards patients having more impairments). However, this current study provides a more accurate analysis (with reduced bias) of the link, as it only included infants or toddlers - before most cases of ADHD are diagnosed.
Dr. Rebecca Landa, the senior author of the study and director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Kriegar, said:
A total of 162 children participated in the longitudinal child development study. The investigators split the children into two groups:
63 of the children were diagnosed with ASD, of whom 18 (29 percent) showed clinically significant symptoms of ADHD.
The authors stress that this study represents a "younger and narrower sample" compared to previous studies.
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A Third Of Autism Cases Also Have ADHD Symptoms