| Literature DB >> 25838109 |
Junko Matsuo1, Yoko Kamio2, Hidetoshi Takahashi2, Miho Ota3, Toshiya Teraishi3, Hiroaki Hori4, Anna Nagashima3, Reiko Takei2, Teruhiko Higuchi5, Nobutaka Motohashi6, Hiroshi Kunugi1.
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder often co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders. Although a high prevalence of autistic-like traits/symptoms has been identified in the pediatric psychiatric population of normal intelligence, there are no reports from adult psychiatric population. This study examined whether there is a greater prevalence of autistic-like traits/symptoms in patients with adult-onset psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia, and whether such an association is independent of symptom severity. The subjects were 290 adults of normal intelligence between 25 and 59 years of age (MDD, n=125; bipolar disorder, n=56; schizophrenia, n=44; healthy controls, n=65). Autistic-like traits/symptoms were measured using the Social Responsiveness Scale for Adults. Symptom severity was measured using the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and/or the Young Mania Rating Scale. Almost half of the clinical subjects, except those with remitted MDD, exhibited autistic-like traits/symptoms at levels typical for sub-threshold or threshold autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, the proportion of psychiatric patients that demonstrated high autistic-like traits/symptoms was significantly greater than that of healthy controls, and not different between that of remitted or unremitted subjects with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. On the other hand, remitted subjects with MDD did not differ from healthy controls with regard to the prevalence or degree of high autistic-like traits/symptoms. A substantial proportion of adults with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia showed high autistic-like traits/symptoms independent of symptom severity, suggesting a shared pathophysiology among autism spectrum disorder and these psychiatric disorders. Conversely, autistic-like traits among subjects with MDD were associated with the depressive symptom severity. These findings suggest the importance of evaluating autistic-like traits/symptoms underlying adult-onset psychiatric disorders for the best-suited treatment. Further studies with a prospective design and larger samples are needed.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2015 PMID: 25838109 PMCID: PMC4383414 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0122711
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Demographics, clinical data and SRS-A total raw scores of MDD, BPD, SZ and HC.
| MDD (n = 125) | BPD (n = 56) | SZ (n = 44) | HC (n = 65) | Analysis (χ2/ANOVA/t) | Significant pair-wise comparison | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Men (%) | 70 (56%) | 26 (46%) | 20 (46%) | 18 (28%) | χ2(3) = 14, | MDD, SZ, BPD>HC |
| χ2(2) = 2.2, n.s.(among patient groups) | ||||||
| Age (years) | ||||||
| M ± SD | 41.5 ±9.2 | 40.4 ±7.8 | 36.9 ±7.5 | 42.2 ±8.2 | F(3, 286) = 3.9, | HC, MDD>SZ |
| Education (years) | ||||||
| M ± SD | 15.3 ±2.0 | 15.5 ±3.4 | 13.8 ±2.4 | 15.1 ±2.5 | F(3, 286) = 4.6, | BPD, MDD>SZ |
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| Full-scale IQ | ||||||
| M ± SD | 109.1 ±11.7 | 105.5 ±14.6 | 96.2 ±12.1 | 111.4 ±13.4 | F(3,189) = 11.5, | HC,MDD,BPD>SZ |
| Range | 70–133 | 70–138 | 75–116 | 87–136 | ||
| Medication (mg/day) | ||||||
| AD M ± SD | 155.9 ±230.5 | 161.3 ±227.3 | 54.5 ±164.9 | - | F(2, 198) = 3.8, | BPD,MDD>SZ |
| AP M ± SD | 55.8 ±130.2 | 89.3 ±169.3 | 467.3 ±530.8 | - | F(2, 198) = 35.8, | SZ>BPD,MDD |
| Remitted N (%) | 46 (37%) | 20 (36%) | 14 (32%) | χ2(2) = 0.35, n.s. | ||
| HDRS-17 M ± SD | 11.1 ±7.5 | 11.4 ±7.9 | - | - | t(179) = 0.3, n.s. | |
| YMRS M ± SD | - | 1.3 ±1.8 | - | - | - | |
| PANSS M ± SD | ||||||
| positive | - | - | 14.1 ±4.4 | - | - | |
| negative | - | - | 16.1 ±5.3 | - | - | |
| general psycho-pathol. | - | - | 31.6 ±8.6 | - | - | |
| total | - | - | 61.8 ±15.3 | - | - | |
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| Mean (SD) | 48.7 (25.3) | 55.4 (25.8) | 59.6 (25.0) | 32.5 (19.1) | F(2, 286) = 14.0, | SZ,BPD,MDD>HC** |
| Median ± Q | 43.0 (15.5) | 53.0 (18.5) | 60.0 (21) | 29.0 (11.5) | χ2(3) = 41.1, | SZ,BPD>HC*** SZ>MDD**>HC*** |
aFull-scale IQs were measured for 66 with MDD (53%), 33 with BPD (59%), 36 with SZ (82%) and 58 HC (89%).
bimipramine equivalent dose of anti-depressant.
cchlorpromazine equivalent dose of anti-psychotics.
dKruskal Wallis test was used for the effect of diagnosis on the SRS-A total raw scores; Mann-Whitney U test for between-group differences.
MDD: major depressive disorder. BPD: bipolar disorder. SZ: schizophrenia. HC: healthy control.
HDRS: Hamilton Depression Rating Score. YMRS: Young Mania Rating Scale. PANSS: Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale.
M: Mean. SD: Standard Deviation. Q: Quartile deviation. n.s. p>0.05
Fig 1Dot plots of the SRS-A total raw scores for the 7 subgroups.
Bar indicates median score: solid line for unremitted subjects and broken line for remitted subjects. Solid dot indicates unremitted subjects and cross indicates remitted subjects. HC: healthy control. MDD: major depressive disorder. BPD: bipolar disorder. SZ: schizophrenia.
Fig 2Comparison of the degree of ALTs among the 7 subgroups.
SRS-A total scores were compared among the 7 subgroups (i.e., HC and remitted/unremitted MDD, BPD and SZ) using Kruskal Wallis test; Dunn's test was used for further pair-wise multiple comparison. Results of pair-wise comparison between each clinical subgroup and HC are shown with error bar showing quartile deviation. HC: healthy control. MDD: major depressive disorder. BPD: bipolar disorder. SZ: schizophrenia. R: remitted. U: unremitted. n.s. p>0.05, * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001 (all against HC)
Fig 3Scatter plots of SRS-A total raw score and symptom severity.
Significant correlation was found between the SRS-A and HDRS-17 total in the MDD group (r = 0.32, p<0.001), but not in the BPD group (r = 0.16, n.s.). No correlation was found between the SRS-A and PANSS total in the SZ group (r = 0.25, n.s.).