Self-reported social impairments predict depressive disorder in adults with autism spectrum disorder.
Talena C Day, Kathryn A McNaughton, Adam J Naples and 1 others
PMID 31238701WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with autism who also had depression reported more social impairments than adults with autism without depression, even when clinicians rated their autism symptoms as less severe.
The study was small and cross-sectional, so this is an association, not proof of cause.
Key findings
01Adults with autism and depression reported more social impairments than adults with autism without depression.
02Adults with autism and depression had lower clinician-rated autism severity than adults with autism without depression.
03Self-reported social impairments were associated with depression in adults with autism after accounting for cognitive ability and clinician-rated autism severity.
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 small, and the authors called the findings exploratory. Because it was cross-sectional, it cannot show whether self-reported social impairments came before depression or depression changed how people saw their social abilities. Participants had to have an IQ of 70 or higher and be able to verbally complete the measures, so results may not apply to autistic adults with intellectual disability or limited speech. The groups were not balanced by sex: the autism-only group had 4 females, while the autism-plus-depression group had 5 females. The confidence interval for the social impairment association was close to one, so the effect may be fragile. The study used stringent neuroscience exclusion criteria, so it may not represent adults with autism seen in routine clinical services.
Declared interests
The supplied text gives NIH grant R01 MH107426 as the funding source and does not state author conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing self-reported social impairments will prevent depression. The study was cross-sectional and small, so it cannot show that these self-perceptions caused depression or that any treatment changed risk.