Autism spectrum disorder polygenic scores are associated with every day executive function in children admitted for clinical assessment.

The study measured associations at one time point, so it cannot show that genetic risk caused executive function problems. The authors state that autism genetic risk scores are not yet accurate enough for clinical diagnosis or treatment planning. The significant finding depended on splitting participants into extreme low and high genetic risk groups; the association disappeared when genetic risk was analyzed as a continuous score. P-values were not adjusted for multiple testing, and several executive function outcomes were examined. The sample was moderate in size, mostly boys, and included children referred for autism assessment rather than a community sample. Children with IQ below 70 and significant sensory losses were excluded, so the findings may not apply to more impaired children. Executive function was measured only by parent report, and parent-report executive function scores correlate poorly with performance-based tests. ADHD was recorded only as a clinical diagnosis, without symptom-level measures, which may blur differences between autism and ADHD genetic risk. The genetic ancestry was European and the sample was Norwegian, so findings may not generalize.

No author conflict-of-interest or funding statement is included in the supplied text. The article is tagged as research supported by non-U.S. government.

Do not treat a high autism genetic risk score as a clinical test or as proof that genes caused a child's behavior regulation problems. The score was not clinically usable, the study measured associations at one time point, and the effect was limited to one parent-report executive function score.