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Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder

There is an ongoing debate as to whether autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is expressed differently in women than men. It is unclear whether differences found are specific to autism or merely reflecting normative development. In this study, we compared sex differences in developmental trajectories of a...

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Autores principales: Horwitz, Ernst, Vos, Melissa, De Bildt, Annelies, Greaves-Lord, Kirstin, Rommelse, Nanda, Schoevers, Robert, Hartman, Catharina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE Publications 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10375001/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36680498
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613221146477
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author Horwitz, Ernst
Vos, Melissa
De Bildt, Annelies
Greaves-Lord, Kirstin
Rommelse, Nanda
Schoevers, Robert
Hartman, Catharina
author_facet Horwitz, Ernst
Vos, Melissa
De Bildt, Annelies
Greaves-Lord, Kirstin
Rommelse, Nanda
Schoevers, Robert
Hartman, Catharina
author_sort Horwitz, Ernst
collection PubMed
description There is an ongoing debate as to whether autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is expressed differently in women than men. It is unclear whether differences found are specific to autism or merely reflecting normative development. In this study, we compared sex differences in developmental trajectories of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with milder forms of autism to those in a normative group matched for intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic status. Data of five assessment waves from ages 11 to 22 years were analyzed using linear mixed modeling. We found that in adolescence, sex differences in developmental trajectories of psychopathological symptoms specific for autism are confined to the repetitive stereotyped domain (males had higher scores on the sensory/stereotypic and resistance to change domains, the latter difference disappeared during adolescence due to an increase of these problems in females with ASD). Other sex differences, among which an increase over time in affective and anxiety problems in females was the most outstanding, were also observed in typically developing females. These sex-specific differences have relevance in the clinical care of men and women with autism, although they are subtle compared to differences between individuals with and without autism, which are broadly present in internalizing and externalizing problem domains. LAY ABSTRACT: There is an ongoing debate as to whether autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is expressed differently in women than men. Studies on sex differences in autistic symptoms and symptoms of other psychiatric problems present in individuals with autism generally do not include a general population comparison group, making it unclear whether differences are specific to autism or merely reflecting development in the general population. In this study, we compared sex differences in the course of autistic and at the same time present symptoms of other psychiatric problems in adolescents with milder forms of ASD to those in a group of the general population with an equal intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic status. Data of five assessment moments from ages 11 to 22 years were analyzed using a statistic procedure that allowed us to determine which factors affect the course of symptoms over time. We found that in adolescence, sex differences in the course of psychopathological symptoms specific for autism are confined to the repetitive stereotyped domains. Males had higher scores on the sensory/stereotypic and resistance to change domains, the latter difference disappeared during the course of adolescence due to an increase of these problems in autistic females. Other sex differences, among which an increase over time in mood and anxiety problems in females was the most outstanding, were also observed in females without autism. These sex-specific differences have relevance in the clinical care of autistic men and women, although they are subtle compared to differences between individuals with and without autism.
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spelling pubmed-103750012023-07-29 Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder Horwitz, Ernst Vos, Melissa De Bildt, Annelies Greaves-Lord, Kirstin Rommelse, Nanda Schoevers, Robert Hartman, Catharina Autism Original Articles There is an ongoing debate as to whether autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is expressed differently in women than men. It is unclear whether differences found are specific to autism or merely reflecting normative development. In this study, we compared sex differences in developmental trajectories of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with milder forms of autism to those in a normative group matched for intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic status. Data of five assessment waves from ages 11 to 22 years were analyzed using linear mixed modeling. We found that in adolescence, sex differences in developmental trajectories of psychopathological symptoms specific for autism are confined to the repetitive stereotyped domain (males had higher scores on the sensory/stereotypic and resistance to change domains, the latter difference disappeared during adolescence due to an increase of these problems in females with ASD). Other sex differences, among which an increase over time in affective and anxiety problems in females was the most outstanding, were also observed in typically developing females. These sex-specific differences have relevance in the clinical care of men and women with autism, although they are subtle compared to differences between individuals with and without autism, which are broadly present in internalizing and externalizing problem domains. LAY ABSTRACT: There is an ongoing debate as to whether autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is expressed differently in women than men. Studies on sex differences in autistic symptoms and symptoms of other psychiatric problems present in individuals with autism generally do not include a general population comparison group, making it unclear whether differences are specific to autism or merely reflecting development in the general population. In this study, we compared sex differences in the course of autistic and at the same time present symptoms of other psychiatric problems in adolescents with milder forms of ASD to those in a group of the general population with an equal intelligence quotient (IQ) and socioeconomic status. Data of five assessment moments from ages 11 to 22 years were analyzed using a statistic procedure that allowed us to determine which factors affect the course of symptoms over time. We found that in adolescence, sex differences in the course of psychopathological symptoms specific for autism are confined to the repetitive stereotyped domains. Males had higher scores on the sensory/stereotypic and resistance to change domains, the latter difference disappeared during the course of adolescence due to an increase of these problems in autistic females. Other sex differences, among which an increase over time in mood and anxiety problems in females was the most outstanding, were also observed in females without autism. These sex-specific differences have relevance in the clinical care of autistic men and women, although they are subtle compared to differences between individuals with and without autism. SAGE Publications 2023-01-21 2023-08 /pmc/articles/PMC10375001/ /pubmed/36680498 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613221146477 Text en © The Author(s) 2023 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
spellingShingle Original Articles
Horwitz, Ernst
Vos, Melissa
De Bildt, Annelies
Greaves-Lord, Kirstin
Rommelse, Nanda
Schoevers, Robert
Hartman, Catharina
Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
title Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
title_full Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
title_fullStr Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
title_full_unstemmed Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
title_short Sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
title_sort sex differences in the course of autistic and co-occurring psychopathological symptoms in adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10375001/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36680498
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/13623613221146477
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