Early autism symptoms in infants with tuberous sclerosis complex
Abstract
Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a rare, autosomal dominant genetic syndrome that confers significantly increased risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with 50–60% of infants with TSC meeting criteria for ASD by 3 years of age. In a previous study of the current longitudinal cohort, we found that infants with TSC who develop ASD (TSC/ASD) evidence decreased cognitive abilities that diverge from infants with TSC and no ASD (TSC/no ASD). We extended this work by asking whether TSC/ASD infants (n = 13) differed from TSC/no ASD infants (n = 10) and infants with low developmental risk and no ASD (LR; n = 21) in their social communication functioning during the first year of life. We measured early ASD symptoms with the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI) at 9 and 12 months of age. At both ages, infants in the TSC/ASD group had significantly higher AOSI total scores than infants in the TSC/no ASD and LR groups, which were not fully explained by differences in cognitive abilities. Several items on the AOSI at both ages were predictive of ASD outcome, particularly those representing core social communication deficits (e.g., social referencing). Our findings signal the need for further study of this population within the first year and provide strong justification for early identification and early intervention targeting social communication skills in infants with TSC. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1981–1990. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Aug 11, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1002/aur.1846
Entities
People
- Charles A. Nelson Iii
- Joyce Y. Wu
- Kandice J Varcin
- Mustafa Şahin
- Nicole M McDonald
- Rujuta Bhatt
- Shafali S. Jeste
Organizations
- Boston Children's Hospital
- Harvard University
- Telethon Kids Institute
- United States Department of Defense
- University of California, Los Angeles