Early Screening and Risk Factors of Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Large Cohort of Chinese Patients With Prader-Willi Syndrome

• Published in: Frontiers in psychiatry Vol. 11; p. 594934
• Main Authors: Kong, Xuejun, Zhu, Junli, Tian, Ruiyi, Liu, Siyu, Sherman, Hannah T, Zhang, Xiaoying, Lin, Xiaojing, Han, Yan, Xiang, Zhi, Koh, Madelyn, Hobbie, Clara, Wang, Bryan, Liu, Kevin, Liu, Jun, Yin, Yueping, Wan, Guobin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 26.11.2020
• Subjects: autism like phenotype (ALP); Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); height; Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS); Psychiatry; weight; Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS); autism like phenotype (ALP); Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); weight; height
• ISSN: 1664-0640; 1664-0640
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.594934

Previous studies regarding the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) have implicated heterogenous findings. Additionally, the early screening of ASD high-risk population for ASD and identifying ASD risk factors in PWS patients have not been explored. This study included 218 Chinese PWS patients aged 3 months to 18 years old. 78% of subjects were identified as high risk for ASD by ASQ-3 Communication domain score for those younger than 3 years of age and 84% of subjects were classified as high risk for ASD by the GARS-3 for those aged 3 years and older. Among PWS clinical measurements, under-height ( = 0.0186), overweight ( = 0.0248), and obstructive sleep apnea ( = 0.0259) were each significantly correlated with ASD risk. These risk factors and their internal relationship with ASD or ASD traits warrant further studies.