title: The influence of sex and age on prevalence rates of comorbid conditions in autism.
abstract: Individuals with ASD frequently experience one or more comorbid conditions. Here, we investigate the influence of sex and age-two important, yet understudied factors-on ten common comorbid conditions in ASD, using cross-sectional data from 4790 individuals with ASD and 1,842,575 individuals without ASD. Epilepsy, ADHD, and CNS/cranial anomalies showed exceptionally large proportions in both male (>19%) and female (>15%), children/adolescents with ASD. Notably, these prevalence rates decreased drastically with age in both males and females. In contrast, the prevalence of schizophrenia increased with age affecting a disproportionately large number of older (≥35 year) adult males (25%), compared to females (7.7%), with ASD. Bowel disorders showed a complex U-pattern accompanied by changes in sex disparity with age. These results highlight crucial differences between cross-sectional comorbidity patterns and their interactions with sex and age, which may aid in the development of effective sex- and age-specific diagnostic/treatment strategies for ASD and comorbid conditions. Autism Res 2017, 10: 778-789. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305.
authors.forename: Kaustubh
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Supekar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305.
authors.forename: Tara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305.|Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 94305.|Department of Neurosciences, Stanford Neurosciences Institute, Stanford, CA, 94305.
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Menon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: age; autism comorbidities; epilepsy; schizophrenia; sex