Exploring Key Physiological System Profiles at Rest and the Association with Depressive Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Rachael A Muscatello, Justin Andujar, Julie L Taylor and 1 others
PMID 32350791WHAT IT FOUND
Children with autism had more parent-reported depressive symptoms than typical peers, but resting cortisol and autonomic measures did not differ.
In autism, higher parasympathetic and lower sympathetic activity was linked to fewer symptoms.
Key findings
0139% of youth with ASD and 6.5% of typically developing youth met the clinically significant cutoff for affective problems.
02After controlling for BMI percentile, the ASD and typically developing groups did not differ in baseline cortisol, RSA, or PEP.
03In the ASD group, the RSA*PEP interaction added 11% of variance to depressive symptoms, and at high PEP higher RSA was associated with fewer symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The physiological measures were collected in a lab on a single day, and the study cannot show that physiological patterns cause or predict depression. All participants were 10 to 13 years old, so findings may not apply to younger children or adolescents. Only children with an IQ of at least 70 were included, so this does not represent autistic children with intellectual impairment. Depressive symptoms were measured by parent report on a broad behavior checklist, not by a clinician diagnosis of depression. Some participants took medications, and although medication status was controlled, the sample still included children with different medication histories. Physiology was measured once in a lab during rest, not across daily life or in response to stress. The authors said the sample size was not large enough to test higher-order interactions across diagnosis and physiology.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that resting cortisol, RSA, or PEP can identify depression in autism. The groups did not differ on these measures, and the RSA and PEP interaction was correlational, group-specific, and described by the authors as preliminary.