“Sub-Threshold Autism Spectrum in Bipolar Disorder: Prevalence and Clinical Correlates”, 2019-11 ():
There is a high prevalence of autistic traits among patients with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder patients with autistic traits show specific clinical features.
Among bipolar disorder patients, those with autistic traits show a higher suicidality.
Background: While few previous studies highlighted a higher prevalence of autistic traits among adults with Bipolar Disorder (BD), little is known about their clinical-significance in this population.
Method: 143 subjects with BD were enrolled at the adult psychiatric inpatient clinic of the University of Pisa. Assessments included the SCID-5, the MOODS-SR, the AQ and the AdAS Spectrum.
Results: 42.7% of the sample scored positively for statistically-significant levels of autistic traits. Subjects with high autistic traits showed a greater likelihood of a very early onset of BD, greater length of current in-hospital stay, statistically-significantly higher rates of anxiety disorders and lower rates of substance use disorders compared to patients with low autistic traits. They also show statistically-significantly greater depressive symptoms and suicidality across the lifetime. Suicidality was associated with the altered responsiveness to sensory input and inversely related to adherence to routine and inflexibility.
Conclusion: The study is a first exploration of the clinical-significance of autistic traits among BD patients. Our results highlight the clinical-significance of autistic traits in patients with BD, supporting the usefulness of a dimensional approach to the autism spectrum.
[Keywords: autistic traits, suicidality, mood disorders, comorbidity, sub-threshold symptoms]