Associations of Down Syndrome with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder Among Children and Adolescents.
Xin Wang, Chunhua Wang, Lizi Lin and 5 others
PMID 40272730WHAT IT FOUND
Children with Down syndrome were five times more likely to have autism and nearly two times more likely to have ADHD than children without it.
Girls with Down syndrome showed a much stronger link to autism than boys did. These findings support routine screening for both conditions in this group.
Key findings
01Children with Down syndrome were 5.40 times more likely to have autism spectrum disorder than children without it, even after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, income, and region.
02The association between Down syndrome and autism was significantly stronger in girls (OR = 17.17) than in boys (OR = 2.93).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Diagnoses were parent-reported and subject to recall bias or misreporting, which may underestimate true prevalence. Diagnostic criteria for autism changed over the 22-year study period, potentially affecting consistency. The study could not assess specific subtypes of ADHD. Residual confounding cannot be ruled out despite adjustments for socioeconomic factors. There is a lack of Down syndrome-specific screening tools, leading to potential diagnostic overshadowing.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the odds ratios as evidence that Down syndrome causes autism or ADHD. This is a cross-sectional study showing association, not causation. Additionally, the very high odds ratio for autism in girls (17.17) is based on a small number of cases (10 girls with both conditions) and should be viewed with caution compared to the overall finding.