Effect of Parental Severe Mental Disorders on the Timing of Autism Diagnosis: A Family Linkage Study.
Yu Tuan, Li-Chi Chen, I-Chun Chen and 3 others
PMID 39138805WHAT IT FOUND
In Taiwan, children diagnosed with autism at age 12 or older were more likely to have a parent with schizophrenia or substance use disorder.
Children diagnosed at age 6 to 11 were more likely to have a parent with bipolar disorder or major depression.
Key findings
01More than half of autistic individuals were diagnosed before age 6 (51.2%), 34.4% were diagnosed at age 6 to 11, and 14.4% were diagnosed at age 12 or older.
02Parents of autistic individuals had higher reported rates of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and substance use disorder than parents of non-autistic individuals, while alcohol use disorder did not differ.
03The highest odds of parental schizophrenia and substance use disorder were found in autistic children diagnosed at age 12 or older, while the highest odds of parental bipolar disorder and major depression were found in those diagnosed at age 6 to 11.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether parental mental disorders came before or after autism diagnosis. Autism and parental mental disorders were identified from ICD-9-CM codes, not semi-structured interviews, so some conditions may have been missed. Only people who sought medical or mental health care were included, so prevalence may be underestimated. The database lacked disease severity, environmental factors, and cultural factors, so these could not be adjusted for. The sample was from Taiwan, and social attitudes toward autism diagnosis may differ from Western countries. Parental depression may be a consequence of raising an autistic child, not a cause of delayed diagnosis.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that parental mental disorders cause delayed autism diagnosis. This was a cross-sectional database study, so it did not establish which came first or why.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →