title: Dual Cognitive and Biological Correlates of Anxiety in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
abstract: Young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a high prevalence (~40 %) of anxiety disorders compared to their non-ASD peers. It is unclear whether cognitive and biological processes associated with anxiety in ASD are analogous to anxiety in typically developing (TD) populations. In this study 55 boys with ASD (34 with a co-occurring anxiety disorder, 21 without) and 28 male controls, aged 10-16 years and with a full-scale IQ ≥ 70, completed a series of clinical, cognitive (attention bias/interpretation bias) and biological measures (salivary cortisol/HR response to social stress) associated with anxiety in TD populations. Structural equation modelling was used to reveal that that both attentional biases and physiological responsiveness were significant, but unrelated, predictors of anxiety in ASD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. matthew.hollocks@kcl.ac.uk.|Neurology Unit, R3, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Box 83, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QQ, UK. matthew.hollocks@kcl.ac.uk.|Department of Clinical Psychology, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK. matthew.hollocks@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hollocks
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pickles
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Howlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Simonoff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Attention; Comorbidity; Cortisol; Emotion; Stress