title: Risk factors of autistic symptoms in children with ADHD.
abstract: Autistic symptoms are frequently observed in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but their etiology remains unclear. The main aim of this study was to describe risk factors for increased autistic symptoms in children with ADHD without an autism or autism-spectrum diagnosis. Comorbid psychiatric disorders, developmental delay, current medication, prenatal biological and postnatal psychosocial risk factors as well as parental autistic traits were assessed in 205 children with ADHD. Linear regression models identified maternal autistic traits, current familial risk factors and hyperactive symptoms as predictors of autistic symptoms in children with ADHD. Findings are indicative of possible genetic as well as environmental risk factors mediating autistic symptoms in children with ADHD. An additional validity analysis by ROC, area under the curve (AUC), suggested a cut-off of 11 to differentiate between ADHD and high-functioning ASD by the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ).
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Frankfurt/Main, Germany. AKroeger@med.uni-frankfurt.de
authors: Anne
authors: A
authors: Kröger
authors: Susann
authors: S
authors: Hänig
authors: Christiane
authors: C
authors: Seitz
authors: Haukur
authors: H
authors: Palmason
authors: Jobst
authors: J
authors: Meyer
authors: Christine M
authors: CM
authors: Freitag
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*