Abstract
ABSTRACT Objective In the literature, there is almost no data on the relationship between autistic children’s nutritional problems and their mothers’ demographic and nutritional characteristics. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate whether there was a relationship between maternal features and nutritional problems in autistic children. Methods This study was conducted with the participation of 58 autistic children (6-19 years) and their mothers. Descriptive data were obtained with a general questionnaire. For the evaluation of children’s nutritional status, anthropometric measurements and 24-hour dietary recall were used. Also, the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory and ORTO-15 questionnaires were used to evaluate the meal behavior of children and orthorexia tendency of mothers, respectively. Results No significant correlation was found between the Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory scores in children of mothers with high and low orthorexia tendency. There were also no statistically significant differences between the children of mothers with high and low educational level in terms of Brief Autism Mealtime Behavior Inventory scores. Only the dietary vitamin B6 intake was significantly higher in the children of mothers with high educational level. Maternal age was associated with the dietary energy and protein intake, unlike, maternal orthorexia tendency was not associated with the nutritional status and meal behavior of children. The abdominal pain experience in the last one month was found to be significantly higher in the children of employed mothers than children of unemployed mothers. Conclusion It is thought that the maternal characteristics are not effective on meal behavior in children and also maternal age and educational status have a very limited effect on the nutritional status of children.
Highlights
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the name of a group of neurodevelopmental disorders with a complex multifactorial etiology
Maternal age was associated with the dietary energy and protein intake, unlike, maternal orthorexia tendency was not associated with the nutritional status and meal behavior of children
It is thought that the maternal characteristics are not effective on meal behavior in children and maternal age and educational status have a very limited effect on the nutritional status of children
Summary
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the name of a group of neurodevelopmental disorders with a complex multifactorial etiology. There are three distinct groups of ASD identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental. Disorders (DSM-IV-TR); autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome and Pervasive Developmental DisorderNot Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) [4]. This classification is reviewed in the new edition published in 2013 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) [1]. The incidence of ASD is dramatically increasing year by year and about one child to 59 has been identified with ASD according to estimates from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network [5]. ASD is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups and it is almost five times more common among boys than girls [6,7,8]
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