Anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and gastrointestinal problems in children with autism spectrum disorders.
2013 Jan
Journal Article
Authors:
Mazurek, M.O.;
Vasa, R.A.;
Kalb, L.G.;
Kanne, S.M.;
Rosenberg, D.;
Keefer, A.;
Murray, D.S.;
Freedman, B.;
Lowery, L.Ann
Secondary:
J Abnorm Child Psychol
Volume:
41
Pagination:
165-76
Issue:
1
PMID:
22850932
Keywords:
Abdominal Pain; Adolescent; Anxiety; Child; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Child, Preschool; chronic disease; Constipation; Diarrhea; Female; Gastrointestinal Diseases; Humans; Male; Multivariate Analysis; Regression Analysis; Sensation Disorders
Abstract:
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience high rates of anxiety, sensory processing problems, and gastrointestinal (GI) problems; however, the associations among these symptoms in children with ASD have not been previously examined. The current study examined bivariate and multivariate relations among anxiety, sensory over-responsivity, and chronic GI problems in a sample of 2,973 children with ASD enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network (ages 2-17 years, 81.6 % male). Twenty-four percent of the sample experienced at least one type of chronic GI problem (constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, and/or nausea lasting three or more months). Children with each type of GI problem had significantly higher rates of both anxiety and sensory over-responsivity. Sensory over-responsivity and anxiety were highly associated, and each provided unique contributions to the prediction of chronic GI problems in logistic regression analyses. The results indicate that anxiety, sensory over-responsivity and GI problems are possibly interrelated phenomenon for children with ASD, and may have common underlying mechanisms.
