Relationships among gastrointestinal symptoms, sleep problems, challenging behaviour, comorbid psychopathology and autism spectrum disorder symptoms in children and adolescents with 15q duplication syndrome.
In Dup15q, tummy pain and poor sleep almost always come with challenging behavior—screen and treat these first.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Parents of 101 children with Dup15q filled out online surveys. They answered questions about stomach pain, sleep, tantrums, anxiety, and autism traits.
The team wanted to see which health issues go hand-in-hand with challenging behavior in this rare genetic syndrome.
What they found
Almost every child had sleep trouble (94%) and stomach problems (87%). Every single child showed some form of challenging behavior.
When kids had worse GI or sleep issues, they also had more tantrums, self-harm, or anxiety.
How this fits with other research
Leader et al. (2020) saw the same GI-behavior link in 136 kids with everyday ASD. The pattern looks the same in Dup15q and idiopathic autism.
DaWalt et al. (2025) tell us to add constipation to the medical rule-out list when autistic adults lose sleep or act out. G et al. now show this rule applies to Dup15q kids too.
Prosperi et al. (2017) found only 40% of preschoolers with ASD had bad GI or feeding issues. In Dup15q the rate is double, so the syndrome amplifies the GI-behavior loop.
Why it matters
If you work with Dup15q, treat stomach pain and sleepless nights as behavior triggers, not side notes. Start each assessment with a GI and sleep checklist. Fixing these basics can drop challenging behavior before you add extra teaching programs.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add two questions to your intake: 'Any constipation, diarrhea, or stomach pain?' and 'How many hours of solid sleep?' Track answers before you write a behavior plan.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Comorbidity is the presence of at least two disorders in one person at one time. This study examined the frequency of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, sleep problems, comorbid psychopathology, challenging behaviour and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms in children and adolescents with duplication 15q syndrome (Dup15q), aged 3-17 years. This study also examined whether challenging behaviour in Dup15q is predicted by age, gender, presence of an intellectual disability, sleep problems, GI symptoms and comorbid psychopathology. METHOD: Parental measures were completed by 101 parents of children and adolescents with Dup15q. Questionnaires were composed of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Behavior Problems Inventory - Short Form, GI Symptom Inventory, Social Communication Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS: Sleep problems (94%), GI symptoms (87%) and challenging behaviour (100%) were common comorbidities represented in the sample in this study. Significant relationships were found between challenging behaviour and the presence of co-occurring sleep problems, GI symptoms, comorbid psychopathology and ASD symptoms. Further analysis revealed that these comorbidities also predicted challenging behaviour. CONCLUSION: This research demonstrated the importance of studying the relationships between GI symptoms, sleep problems, comorbid psychopathology, ASD symptoms and challenging behaviour in Dup15q and how these conditions can shape the Dup15q phenotype.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2021 · doi:10.1111/jir.12789