title: Anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and gastrointestinal problems in children with autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience high rates of anxiety, sensory processing problems, and gastrointestinal (GI) problems; however, the associations among these symptoms in children with ASD have not been previously examined. The current study examined bivariate and multivariate relations among anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and chronic GI problems in a sample of 2,973 children with ASD enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network (ages 2-17 years, 81.6 % male). Twenty-four percent of the sample experienced at least one type of chronic GI problem (constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, and/or nausea lasting three or more months). Children with each type of GI problem had significantly higher rates of both anxiety and sensory over-responsivity. Sensory over-responsivity and anxiety were highly associated, and each provided unique contributions to the prediction of chronic GI problems in logistic regression analyses. The results indicate that anxiety, sensory over-responsivity and GI problems are possibly interrelated phenomenon for children with ASD, and may have common underlying mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Psychology and Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri - Columbia, 205 Portland Street, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. mazurekm@missouri.edu
authors.forename: Micah O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Mazurek
authors.forename: Roma A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Vasa
authors.forename: Luther G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Kalb
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kanne
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keefer
authors.forename: Donna S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Freedman
authors.forename: Lea Ann
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lowery
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000150:complications; D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003248:Constipation / Q000150:complications; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000150:complications*