Prevalence and Risk Factors of Anxiety in a Clinical Dutch Sample of Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Lieke A M W Wijnhoven,Isabela Granic,Ad A Vermulst,Daan H M Creemers

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00050

Lieke A M W Wijnhoven, Isabela Granic + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00050

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Abstract

Anxiety is highly prevalent in children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, there is inconsistency in studies investigating the prevalence and risk factors of anxiety in children with ASD. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to give an overview of the prevalence of anxiety symptoms in a clinical Dutch sample of children with ASD. The second aim was to investigate age, gender, ASD subtype, and IQ as potential risk factors for anxiety in this sample. In total, 172 children with ASD (age, 8–15 years) and their parents participated in this study. Specialized services in which children with ASD were recruited were two mental health institutes and one secondary special education school. The findings showed that more than 60% of the participating children with ASD had at least subclinical anxiety symptoms according to children. More than 80% of the children with ASD had at least subclinical anxiety symptoms according to parents. It was found that younger children and girls with ASD had more anxiety symptoms than older children and boys with ASD. Moreover, it was found that children with a higher performance (non-verbal) IQ and lower verbal IQ had more specific phobia symptoms. The findings suggest that in a clinical context, children with ASD have a high risk to have co-occurring anxiety symptoms, especially girls and younger children with ASD. Therefore, early prevention and treatment of anxiety in children with ASD who are most at risk is important.

Highlights

Recent studies have demonstrated that comorbid psychiatric problems are common among chil dren with an autism spectrum disorder [ASD; e.g., Ref. [1]]
There are hardly any studies that examined anxiety levels in children with ASD in Dutch children with ASD [e.g., Ref. [32]], and most studies included large community samples of children with ASD with all levels of impairment [e.g., Ref. [30]], while in this study, a specific clinical sample children with ASD was included who had a high level of daily impairment and who received intensive treatment at a mental health institute
The first aim of this study was to provide an overview of the prevalence of anxiety symptoms in a clinical Dutch sample of children with ASD

Summary

Introduction

Recent studies have demonstrated that comorbid psychiatric problems are common among chil dren with an autism spectrum disorder [ASD; e.g., Ref. [1]]. ASD children with age appropriate intellectual and verbal abilities have relatively intact emotion recognition abilities [11] This implicates that some children with ASD may at least be comparable to parents in their report of anxiety symptom levels. The use of interviews is associated with higher prevalence rates of total anxiety, while for social anxiety disorder, the use of questionnaires is associated with higher prevalence rates [4]. These conceptual and methodologi cal differences and the heterogeneity of the ASD population may lead to variation in the prevalence rates across studies

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