Association between fatigue and autistic symptoms in children with cri du chat syndrome.
In kids with severe ID, parent-reported fatigue predicts higher autism-symptom scores—screen for fatigue when autism is suspected.
01Research in Context
What this study did
DeFulio et al. (2011) asked parents to rate how tired their kids felt and how many autism-like behaviors they saw.
They studied the children with cri du chat syndrome and the kids with other severe intellectual disability.
Both groups had IQ scores below 40 and were between 4 and 17 years old.
What they found
Parents who said their child was more tired also reported more autism symptoms.
The link was even stronger in the general ID group than in the cri du chat group.
Fatigue scores predicted autism-symptom scores in both groups.
How this fits with other research
Wagner et al. (2011) mapped autism traits across seven genetic syndromes, including cri du chat. Their work shows Anthony’s fatigue finding fits inside a bigger picture of syndrome-specific behavior profiles.
Saghazadeh et al. (2017) pooled 20 studies and found higher blood BDNF in autism. This biomarker work does not clash with Anthony’s parent-report data; it simply looks at biology while Anthony looks at day-to-day behavior.
Shepherd et al. (2018) surveyed 182 parents and found child symptom severity drove caregiver stress. Anthony’s fatigue link adds a new layer: tired kids may look more autistic and also stress their parents more.
Why it matters
If a child with severe ID seems to show new autism signs, first ask about sleep and energy. Treating fatigue may ease the behaviors you see.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
In the current study, the authors examined whether the fatigue level of children diagnosed with cri du chat syndrome was associated with the expression of autistic symptoms. Sixty-nine children with cri du chat syndrome were compared with 47 children with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities who did not differ on intellectual severity. Participants were assessed using the Infant Sleep Questionnaire ( J. M. B. Morrell, 1999 ) for fatigue-level rating and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale ( E. Schopler, R. J. Reichler, & B. R. Renner, 1988 ) for autism-level rating. In support of the authors' hypothesis, results indicated that children who exhibited high levels of fatigue were more likely to express high levels of autistic symptoms. Contrary to the authors' hypothesis, children in the comparison group who exhibited high levels of fatigue conferred the greatest vulnerability to the expression of autistic symptoms.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-116.4.278