ABSTRACT
Objective:
To investigate the association between ASD and cooccurrences of psychiatric disorders among relatives of children/adolescents from northern Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Methods:
A case-control study was performed, consisting of 248 individuals with ASD (cases) and 886 neurotypical controls. A semi-structured questionnaire and the multiple logistic regression model were adopted in the data analysis. To estimate the magnitude of associations, the crude and adjusted odds ratio (OR) was used.
Results:
There was a positive and significant association between ASD and the presence of relatives with: any psychiatric disorder (OR: 3.68; 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 2.68-5.05), with ASD (OR: 3,37; 95%CI: 2.09-5.43), with ADHD (OR: 2.19; 95%CI: 1.41-3.39) and epilepsy (OR: 1.91; 95%CI: 1.20-2.98).
Conclusion:
This study suggests that children/adolescents with ASD have a higher chance of family history of psychiatric disorders, especially ASD, ADHD and epilepsy. These findings may have important implications for both Clinical Psychiatry and Public Health, as they can be used to form a clinical profile of people with psychiatric disorders who are at risk of having a family member with ASD.
KEYWORDS
Autistic spectrum disorder; mental disorders; attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity; comorbidity; epilepsy