Distinct Symptom Network Structure and Shared Central Social Communication Symptomatology in Autism and Schizophrenia: A Bayesian Network Analysis.
Gloria T Han, Dominic A Trevisan, Jennifer Foss-Feig and 2 others
PMID 35752729WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with autism and schizophrenia showed different symptom patterns overall, yet social communication problems were most connected to other symptoms in both groups.
Restricted/repetitive behaviors stood out in autism; ideas of reference and eccentric behavior in schizophrenia.
Key findings
01The overall symptom networks for the autism and schizophrenia groups were statistically different (correlation matrix distance 0.77, p = 0.001).
02Social communication symptoms had the highest expected influence in both the autism and schizophrenia networks.
03Restricted and repetitive behaviors were among the most influential symptoms in the autism network, while ideas of reference and eccentric behavior were among the most influential in the schizophrenia network.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was small (92 adults total), so the network findings may not replicate. The study was cross-sectional and used self-report subscales, so it cannot show that one symptom causes another or that treatment works. People who met criteria for both autism and schizophrenia and people with an IQ below 70 were excluded, so the results may not apply to those groups. The groups differed in IQ and sex, and these factors were not included in the network models. The analysis compared broad symptom domains, not specific mechanisms or individual symptoms.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that social skills training will change autism or schizophrenia symptoms. This study only described how self-reported symptoms were connected at one time point.