title: Temporal patterns of self-injurious behavior correlate with stress hormone levels in the developmentally disabled.
abstract: While the origins and developmental course of self-injurious behavior (SIB) remain relatively unknown, recent studies suggest a biological imbalance may potentiate or provoke the contagious recurrence of SIB patterns in individuals with severe developmental disabilities (DD). Evidence from several laboratories indicates that functioning, relations, and processing of a stress-related molecule, proopiomelanocortin (POMC) may be perturbed among certain subgroups of individuals exhibiting SIB. The current investigation employed a unique time-pattern analysis program (THEME) to examine whether recurrent temporal patterns (T-patterns) of SIB were related to morning levels of two POMC-derived hormones: beta-endorphin (betaE) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). THEME was used to quantify highly significant (non-random) T-patterns that included SIB within a dataset of in situ observational recordings spanning 8 days ( approximately 40 h) in 25 subjects with DD. Pearson's product-moment analyses revealed highly significant correlations between the percentage of T-patterns containing SIB and basal levels of both betaE and ACTH, which were not found with any other "control" T-patterns. These findings support the hypothesis that the recurrent temporal patterning of SIB represents a unique behavioral phenotype directly related to perturbed levels of POMC-derived stress hormones in certain individuals with severe DD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. akemp@uci.edu
authors.forename: Aaron S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: Paul T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Fillmore
authors.forename: Mohammed R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lenjavi
authors.forename: Melvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lyon
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chicz-Demet
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Touchette
authors.forename: Curt A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sandman
mesh_terms: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D011333:Pro-Opiomelanocortin / Q000097:blood*; D012008:Recurrence; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001615:beta-Endorphin / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D001615:beta-Endorphin; D011333:Pro-Opiomelanocortin; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone