Associations of quality of life with health-related characteristics among children with autism.
Sleep, GI, seizure, and mental-health problems each additively drag down quality-of-life scores—screen and treat these aggressively.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Burrows et al. (2018) tracked kids with autism over time. They looked at how sleep, stomach, seizure, and mood problems link to quality-of-life scores.
The team used surveys and medical charts. They checked which health issues pile on to drag scores down.
What they found
Each extra health problem cut quality-of-life scores further. Sleep, GI pain, seizures, and anxiety all added their own hit.
The hurts stacked up. A child with two problems scored worse than a child with one.
How this fits with other research
Garrido et al. (2025) widen the lens. They show the same sleep and mealtime issues also crush family quality of life, not just the child's.
Thiel et al. (2024) move the story to adults. In grown-ups, depression—not autism traits—drives most quality-of-life loss. The pattern repeats: treat mental health first.
Bowen et al. (2012) set the stage. They counted high rates of anxiety and ADHD in autistic kids years earlier. Burrows et al. (2018) now link those same conditions to poorer daily living.
Why it matters
When you see low quality-of-life scores, hunt for treatable health pain. Run a quick sleep screen, ask about tummy aches, check for seizures, and watch for anxiety. Fixing these can lift scores faster than targeting social skills alone. Share the list with parents so they know medical care is part of good ABA.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
We examine whether behavioral, mental health, and physical health characteristics of children with autism are associated with baseline and change in health-related quality of life. We measured health-related quality of life with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 total scores from children enrolled in the Autism Treatment Network. We used linear mixed model regressions with random slopes. Predictors of lower health-related quality of life at baseline included demographic and insurance characteristics, diagnosis, higher Child Behavior Checklist internalizing and externalizing scores, sleep problems by Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, seizures, gastrointestinal problems, and mental health problems. Several characteristics had different associations over time. This study demonstrates that in addition to behavioral and autism-related characteristics, physical and mental health conditions are associated with health-related quality of life in children with autism.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361317704420