TITLE:
Clinical and therapeutic implications of psychiatric comorbidity in high functioning autism/Asperger syndrome: An Italian study
AUTHORS:
Silvia Giovinazzo, Sara Marciano, Grazia Giana, Paolo Curatolo, Maria-Cristina Porfirio
KEYWORDS:
Autistic Spectrum Disorders; Psychiatric Comorbidity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.3 No.3,
June
28,
2013
ABSTRACT: The present study describes
the occurrence of psychiatric comorbid disorders in a
cohort of 86 high functioning autism (HFA)/Asperger syndrome (AS) patients,
examined at Child Neurology and Psychiatry Unit of Tor Vergata University. 38
patients out of 86 (44.2%) presented one or more psychiatric comorbidities,
such as mood disorders, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),
Tourette syndrome (TS), anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD), and psychotic symptoms. We compared our sample with the
evidences from the scientific literature on psychiatric comorbidity in ASD
patient, in particular in HFA/AS. In this paper we focus on the high frequency
of comorbid psychiatric disorders in HFA/AS patients, such as mood disorders, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD), Tourette syndrome (TS), anxiety disorders, including obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD), and psychosis, including schizophrenia. We analyzed rates of
all psichiatric comorbidities diagnosed in a sample of HFA/AS subjects and we
compared findings from our study with the evidences from the scientific literature
on psychiatric comorbidity in ASD patients, in particular HFA/AS. We point out
that comorbid psychiatric symptoms can be hardly diagnosed, because they
could present atipically in ASDs then in general
population. Furthermore, they could be masked by ASD core symptoms.