According to a study, children with autism may be falsely diagnosed with ADHD as diagnostic criteria overlap, (Benjamin E. Yerys, Jenelle Nissley-Tsiopinis, Ashley de Marchena, Marley W. Watkins, Ligia Antezana, Thomas J. Power, and Robert T. Schultz, "Evaluation of the ADHD Rating Scale in Youth with Autism," Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47, no. 1 (January 2017): 90-100, doi:10.1007/s10803-106-2933-z). This is particularly concerning as individuals with autism may be placed on medications with potentially harmful side effects unnecessarily. ADHD diagnostic symptoms such as being "easily distracted," "does not seem to listen when spoken to directly," or "has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities," may well be part of autism social impairments and not ADHD. Until we have effective rating scales for individuals who have autism to find out if ADHD is also present, we must be very cautious that individuals with autism are not being falsely diagnosed with ADHD.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, Side Effects and Autism
A recent study examined the use of antidepressant medications which affect brain serotonin and intracranial bleeds. (Christel Renoux, Sarah Vahey, Sophie Dell'Aniello, Jean Francois Boivin, "Association of Specific Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors with the Risk for Spontaneous Intracranial Hemorrhage," JAMA Neurology 77, no.2 (2017): 173-180, doi:10.1001/jamaneurol2016.4529. 1,363,990 individuals were studied. Medications which strongly inhibit the reuptake of serotonin into cells were associated with greater risk of bleeding. The risk is higher within the first thirty days with these medications, and the risk is higher with anticoagulants, also known as blood thinners. Individuals with autism already have neurological impairments and if there is a bleed in the brain, there is a potential for worsening of brain function.
Focusing on skills: How my brother with autism may have prevented a train accident
Last Sunday, my brother Stuart who has autism came over my home to celebrate my daughter's birthday. He lives in a residential placement and a staff from the house brought him over. The staff told me that about a year ago, at a subway station, my brother noticed there was a problem with some wheels on a train. My brother told a transit worker. The transit worker called over an inspector and it turned out the problem was dangerous. The crew had all the passengers evacuate the train and then the train was removed from the station for repair. My brother may have saved lives. Even though people have disabilities, we must develop their skills. People with disabilities can also make great contributions to society.
Autism. Overweight, Obesity, Artificial Sweeteners, Strokes and Dementia
Children with autism are more likely to be overweight or obese compared to neurotypical children (Sarabeth Broder-Fingert, Karisa Brasauskas, Kristen Lindgren, Dorothea Iannuzzi, Jeanne Van Cleave, "Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in a Large Clinical Sample of Children with Autism," Academic Pediatrics 14, no. 4 (July-august 2014): 408-414, doi:10.1016/j.acap.2014.04.004). When individuals are overweight or obese, they may start to consume artificially sweetened drinks. However, a recent study showed that consuming such drinks is associated with an increased risk of dementia and stroke, (Matthew P. Pace, Jayandra J. Himali, Alexa S. Beiser, Hugo J. Aparicio, Claudia L. Satizabal, Ramachandran, S. Vasan, Sudha Seshadri et al., "Sugar- and Artifically Sweetened Beverages and the Risks of Incident Stroke and Dementia A prospective Cohort Study," Stroke 48, No. 6 (June 2017): doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.116.016027). The study involved 2,888 participants. Even though the individuals are not children, children who are overweight or obese often continue to be so in adulthood. Having at least one can a day was associated with an increased the risk of all-cause dementia up to almost two and a half times as much and the associated risk of stroke and Alzheimer's dementia was almost up to three times as high. Although is not possible at this time without further study to definitively establish causation, it still is a good idea to cut back on these drinks.
Autism, Behaviors and Vitamin D
A recent double blind randomized controlled trial involving 109 subjects showed that children with Vitamin D supplementation had a significant improvement in symptoms of autism compared to placebo, (Khaled Saad, Ahmed A. Abdel-Rahman, Yasser M. Elserogy, Amira A. El-Houfey, Hisham A. K. Othman, Geir Bjorklund, et. al., "Randomized Controlled Trial of Vitamin D Supplementation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder," Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology (October 2016): doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12652. Improvements were seen in the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) in relating to people, emotional response, imitation, body use, object use, adaptation to change, listening response, visual response and general autistic impression. There were improvements in the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) in autistic mannerisms, social cognition and social awareness, in the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist in sociability. cognitive awareness and behavior, and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) in irritability, hyperactivity, social withdrawal, stereotypical behavior and inappropriate speech subscales. although this was a small study and more research needs to be done to further validate these results, it is prudent to check Vitamin D levels and if low to ask a physician or other qualified health care professional regarding supplementation.