Autism severity aggregates with family psychiatric history in a community-based autism sample.
Danielle Sipsock, Hasmik Tokadjian, Giulia Righi and 2 others
PMID 34652072WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers reported more severe social deficits on the SRS-2 for autistic individuals with a family history of psychiatric conditions, specifically depression.
However, this link was not found on the ADOS-2 clinical exam. This suggests caregiver reports may reflect broader behavioral challenges rather than core autism symptoms.
Key findings
01First-degree family history of psychiatric disorders was associated with higher SRS-2 total scores.
02Autism severity measured by the ADOS-2 was not significantly related to family history variables.
03Higher SRS-2 scores may serve as a proxy for unrecognized co-occurring psychiatric conditions in the participants themselves rather than core autism symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional and cannot determine if family history causes the reported severity or if both are influenced by other factors. Family history was based on caregiver recall without external verification, which may introduce bias. The ADOS-2 results were likely underpowered due to a restricted range of severity scores in the sample. The authors could not control for family size or the age of family members, which affects the likelihood of a disorder being diagnosed. Parental stress and conflict were not measured, so the link between family depression and child SRS-2 scores could be due to parenting environment rather than genetics.
Declared interests
The study was supported by N.I.H. Extramural and Non-U.S. Gov't grants. No specific commercial conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that family psychiatric history directly increases core autism severity. The association was only found in caregiver-reported symptoms (SRS-2) and not in clinical observation (ADOS-2), suggesting the SRS-2 may be picking up non-autism-specific behavioral issues or co-occurring conditions.