“Longitudinal Follow-Up of Subsequent Psychiatric Comorbidities among Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder”, Ta-Chuan Yeh, Mu-Hong Chen, Ya-Mei Bai, Shih-Jen Tsai, Ju-Wei Hsu, Kai-Lin Huang, Tung-Ping Su, Tzeng-Ji Chen, Chih-Sung Liang2023-06-15 (anxiety, BP & autism, depression, SCZ)⁠:

• ASD predisposes the development of anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, and OCD.

• Anxiety disorder typically develops earlier than other psychiatric comorbidities.

• Co-occurring anxiety disorder can independently increase risks of other psychiatric comorbidities.

Background: The mental health of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a concern of recent years. However, a large-scale longitudinal study investigating the risk and the time course of subsequent psychiatric comorbidities is still lacking.

Method: Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 13,382 children and adolescents with ASD, and 53,528 age & sex-matched non-ASD controls were enrolled 2001^–₈2009_15ya, and followed to the end of 2011. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) with a corresponding 95% confidence interval for psychiatric comorbidities among children and adolescents with ASD vs matched controls was estimated. The subjects who developed schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were identified during the follow-up.

Results: Children and adolescents with ASD compared with controls were more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia (19.21; 13.74, 26.88), bipolar disorder (17.59; 12.66, 24.44), depressive disorder (5.56; 4.72, 6.56), anxiety disorder (5.01; 4.49, 5.59), and OCD (16.12; 11.66, 22.30) later in life. The time course of subsequent psychiatric comorbidity showed that anxiety disorder occurred first, usually in late childhood, with psychotic and affective disorders proceeding in adolescence. Those with ASD and anxiety disorder had an additionally increased likelihood of developing subsequent psychiatric comorbidity compared with those with ASD only.

Limitation In claims data analysis, clinical parameters or possible confounders may not be fully captured.

Conclusion: Patients with ASD are predisposed to the development of anxiety disorder in late childhood, as well as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, and OCD in adolescence.

[Keywords: autism, time course, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder]