Quasi-autistic patterns following severe early global privation. English and Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study Team.
Six per cent of child in a sample of 111 children who were adopted into U.K. families from Romania, and who were systematically assessed at the ages of 4 and 6 years, showed autistic-like patterns of behaviour. A further 6% showed milder (usually isolated) autistic features. Such autistic characteristics were not found in a similarly studied sample of 52 children adopted in the first 6 months of life within the U.K. The children from Romania with autistic patterns showed clinical features closely similar to "ordinary" autism at 4 years but they differed with respect to the improvement seen by age 6 years, to an equal sex ratio, and to a normal head circumference. The children from Romania with autistic features tended to differ from the other Romanian adoptees with respect to a greater degree of cognitive impairment and a longer duration of severe psychological privation.
Rutter
M
M
MRC Child Psychiatry Unit and Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Andersen-Wood
L
L
Beckett
C
C
Bredenkamp
D
D
Castle
J
J
Groothues
C
C
Kreppner
J
J
Keaveney
L
L
Lord
C
C
O'Connor
T G
TG
D000300:Adoption; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000145:classification; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002674:Child, Institutionalized / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000209:etiology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007326:Institutionalization; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000209:etiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D019372:Orphanages; D015995:Prevalence; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012383:Romania / Q000208:ethnology; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012919:Social Behavior; D013997:Time Factors; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology