Body mass index in male and female children with infantile autism.
Morphometry, the measurement of forms, is an ancient practice. Recently, evidence has grown to support the notion that aberrant neurodevelopment may play a role in the pathophysiology of autism. Is the body, like the brain, affected by abnormal development in these patients? The aim of this study was to evaluate body mass index (BMI) of children with infantile autism, by comparing the BMI of 117 children with infantile autism with the corresponding BMI percentiles in an age- and sex-matched reference population. The BMI distribution of the male, but not female, children with infantile autism was significantly lower than that of the age-matched reference population. There was no evidence that BMI was associated with intelligence or socioeconomic status among children with infantile autism.
Mouridsen
Svend Erik
SE
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bispebjerg Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Rich
Bente
B
Isager
Torben
T
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors