Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder among a sample of Egyptian children

Abstract

utism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by qualitative impairments in three domains: social interaction, communication, and repetitive stereotyped behavior. ASDs can have a detrimental impact on the well-being of affected individuals. It is a lifelong disease with onset earlier than the age of three years. ASD represents an important cause of morbidity and high service utilization. This is because of the early onset of the disease, its persistence along the patient life, the high level of impairment, and the absence of effective treatment for the disease. Changes in case definition and increased awareness about autism play a role in the apparent increase in its prevalence. The socioeconomic status (SES), socioeconomic position and social class are widely used in health research. Assessment of SES is an important aspect in community-based health research as this is a major determinant of health and nutritional status as well as of mortality and morbidity. Our study revealed non-significant difference between the severity of autism and the age of symptoms (years), age of diagnosis, regression, eye contact and verbal language communication while there was highly statistically significant difference found between severity of autism and non-verbal language communication. There was non-significant difference between severity of autism and abnormal behavior, epilepsy, ADHD/hyperactivity, sleep disturbance and language delay and we found statistically significant difference between severity of autism and stereotypic behavior. SES is usually measured by 3 variables: education, occupation and income. Our study showed non-significant difference between severity of autism and education and culture domain, family domain, economic domain, occupation domain, home sanitation domain, health care domain, total SES score (%) and SES groups. There was highly significant difference found between the severity of autism and the family possessions.