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Abstract
The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence and socio-economic determinants of autism among children attending primary and secondary schools in South East, Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study that assessed the prevalence and socio-economic pattern of childhood autism among children attending primary and secondary schools in Enugu and Ebonyi states, South East Nigeria. The questionnaire was adapted from American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, 2000). The study was carried out between June and October, 2014. The schools were selected by listing all the mixed schools in the urban and semi- urban areas by simple random sampling. A total of 721 subjects completed the questionnaire. The age of respondents ranged between 3 and 18 years, with mean age of 12.71 and standard deviation of 3.03 years. Twenty one children fulfilled the criteria for autism giving a prevalence of 2.9%. There is a significant association between age in categories (fishers exact test, p = 0.013) and social class (p=0.033). The prevalence of autism was 2.9%; and the socio-economic characteristics of childhood autism in South East Nigeria are similar to those in other parts of the world.
Highlights
Childhood autism is a neuro-development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-African Health Sciences Vol 16 Issue 4, December, 2016 verbal communication and restricted and repetitive behaviour before the age of 36 months.[1]Seven hundred and twenty one subjects who met inclusion criteria were consecutively recruited between June and October, 2014 from two secondary and two primary schools each in urban and semi-urban areas of the states
The questionnaire was adapted from American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR, 2000)
Twenty one children fulfilled the criteria for autism giving a prevalence of 2.9%
Summary
Childhood autism is a neuro-development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-. Seven hundred and twenty one subjects who met inclusion criteria were consecutively recruited between June and October, 2014 from two secondary and two primary schools each in urban and semi-urban areas of the states. All pupils in primary (276) and students in secondary (445) were studied giving a total of 721 respondents. Seven hundred and fifty questionnaires were administered to those that gave consent but 721 that gave consent and responded well were studied. This gave a response rate of 94% .About 300 questionnaires were filled by respondents from Ebonyi while 421 were filled by respondents from Enugu. Of the 721 respondents; 276 parents helped their children to fill the questionnaire at home, while the remaining 445 respondents were helped by their teachers and researchers who were trained and instructed on autism questionnaire
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