TY - JOUR
T1 - Investigating the factors underlying adaptive functioning in autism in the EU-AIMS Longitudinal European Autism Project
AU - Tillmann, Julian
AU - Caceres, Antonia San Jose
AU - Chatham, Chris H.
AU - Crawley, Daisy
AU - Holt, Rosemary
AU - Oakley, Bethany
AU - Banaschewski, Tobias
AU - Baron-Cohen, Simon
AU - Boelte, Sven
AU - Buitelaar, Jan K.
AU - Durston, Sarah
AU - Ham, Lindsay
AU - Loth, Eva
AU - Simonoff, Emily
AU - Spooren, Will
AU - Murphy, Declan G.
AU - Charman, Tony
AU - Ahmad, Jumana
AU - Ambrosino, Sara
AU - Auyeung, Bonnie
AU - Baumeister, Sarah
AU - Beckmann, Christian
AU - Bourgeron, Thomas
AU - Bours, Carsten
AU - Brammer, Michael
AU - Brandeis, Daniel
AU - Brogna, Claudia
AU - de Bruijn, Yvette
AU - Chakrabarti, Bhismadev
AU - Cornelissen, Ineke
AU - Dell'Acqua, Flavio
AU - Dumas, Guillaume
AU - Ecker, Christine
AU - Faulkner, Jessica
AU - Frouin, Vincent
AU - Garces, Pilar
AU - Goyard, David
AU - Hayward, Hannah
AU - Hipp, Joerg
AU - Johnson, Mark H.
AU - Jones, Emily J. H.
AU - Kundu, Prantik
AU - Lai, Meng-Chuan
AU - D'ardhuy, Xavier Liogier
AU - Lombardo, Michael
AU - Lythgoe, David J.
AU - Mandl, Rene
AU - Mason, Luke
AU - Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas
AU - Oranje, Bob
N1 - Funding Information:
Chris Chatham, Lindsay Ham and Will Spooren are employees at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. Emily Simonoff receives support from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grant for Applied Research, a Senior Investigator Award and though the NIHR South London and Maudsley NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. She also receives funding from the European Medicine Innovative Medicines Initiative (EU-AIMS), the Medical Research Council, The Economic and Social Research Council, Autistica and the Maudsley Charity. No other conflict of interests declared.
Funding Information:
We thank all participants and their families for their efforts to participate in the study. This work was supported by EU-AIMS (European Autism Interventions), which receives support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement no. 115300, the resources of which are composed of financial contributions from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (grant FP7/2007-2013), from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations companies’ in-kind contributions, and from Autism Speaks. We also acknowledge the contributions of the whole EU-AIMS LEAP group: Jumana Ahmad, Sara Ambro-sino, Bonnie Auyeung, Sarah Baumeister, Christian Beckmann, Thomas Bourgeron, Carsten Bours, Michael Brammer, Daniel Brandeis, Claudia Brogna, Yvette de Bruijn, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Ineke Cornelissen, Flavio Dell’ Acqua, Guillaume Dumas, Christine Ecker, Jessica Faulkner, Vincent Frouin, Pilar Garcés, David Goyard, Hannah Hayward, Joerg Hipp, Mark H. Johnson, Emily J.H. Jones, Prantik Kundu, Meng-Chuan Lai, Xavier Liogier D’ardhuy, Michael Lombardo, David J. Lythgoe, René Mandl, Luke Mason, Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, Carolin Moessnang, Nico Mueller, Laurence O’Dwyer, Marianne Oldehinkel, Bob Oranje, Gahan Pandina, Antonio M. Persico, Barbara Ruggeri, Amber Ruigrok, Jessica Sabet, Roberto Sacco, Roberto Toro, Heike Tost, Jack Waldman, Steve C.R. Williams, Caroline Wooldridge, and Marcel P. Zwiers.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit significant impairments in adaptive functioning that impact on their ability to meet the demands of everyday life. A recurrent finding is that there is a pronounced discrepancy between level of cognitive ability and adaptive functioning, and this is particularly prominent among higher-ability individuals. However, the key clinical and demographic associations of these discrepancies remain unclear. This study included a sample of 417 children, adolescents, and adults with ASD as part of the EU-AIMS LEAP cohort. We examined how age, sex, IQ, levels of ASD symptom and autistic trait severity and psychiatric symptomatology are associated with adaptive functioning as measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Second Edition and IQ-adaptive functioning discrepancies. Older age, lower IQ and higher social-communication symptoms were associated with lower adaptive functioning. Results also demonstrate that older age, higher IQ and higher social-communication symptoms are associated with greater IQ-adaptive functioning discrepancy scores. By contrast, sensory ASD symptoms, repetitive and restricted behaviors, as well as symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression, were not associated with adaptive functioning or IQ-adaptive functioning discrepancy scores. These findings suggest that it is the core social communication problems that define ASD that contribute to adaptive function impairments that people with ASD experience. They show for the first time that sensory symptoms, repetitive behavior and associated psychiatric symptoms do not independently contribute to adaptive function impairments. Individuals with ASD require supportive interventions across the lifespan that take account of social-communicative ASD symptom severity. Autism Res 2019, 12: 645–657.
AB - Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit significant impairments in adaptive functioning that impact on their ability to meet the demands of everyday life. A recurrent finding is that there is a pronounced discrepancy between level of cognitive ability and adaptive functioning, and this is particularly prominent among higher-ability individuals. However, the key clinical and demographic associations of these discrepancies remain unclear. This study included a sample of 417 children, adolescents, and adults with ASD as part of the EU-AIMS LEAP cohort. We examined how age, sex, IQ, levels of ASD symptom and autistic trait severity and psychiatric symptomatology are associated with adaptive functioning as measured by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Second Edition and IQ-adaptive functioning discrepancies. Older age, lower IQ and higher social-communication symptoms were associated with lower adaptive functioning. Results also demonstrate that older age, higher IQ and higher social-communication symptoms are associated with greater IQ-adaptive functioning discrepancy scores. By contrast, sensory ASD symptoms, repetitive and restricted behaviors, as well as symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety and depression, were not associated with adaptive functioning or IQ-adaptive functioning discrepancy scores. These findings suggest that it is the core social communication problems that define ASD that contribute to adaptive function impairments that people with ASD experience. They show for the first time that sensory symptoms, repetitive behavior and associated psychiatric symptoms do not independently contribute to adaptive function impairments. Individuals with ASD require supportive interventions across the lifespan that take account of social-communicative ASD symptom severity. Autism Res 2019, 12: 645–657.
KW - adaptive functioning
KW - autism spectrum disorder
KW - intellectual functioning
KW - psychiatric symptoms
KW - symptom severity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061456887&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/aur.2081
DO - 10.1002/aur.2081
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85061456887
SN - 1939-3792
VL - 12
SP - 645
EP - 657
JO - Autism Research
JF - Autism Research
IS - 4
ER -