INS NYC 2024 Program

Poster	Poster Session 01 Program Schedule 02/14/2024 02:30 pm - 03:45 pm Poster Session 01: Cognitive, Psychotherapeutic, and Psychosocial Intervention/Rehabilitation Final Abstract #62 Autistic Traits and Co-Occurring Psychiatric Symptoms in Children with the Fragile X Premutation Ariel Zucker, Queens College & The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Queens & NYC, United States Declan Sung, Queens College, City University of New York, Queens, United States Nicole Tortora, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, United States Anne Glicksman, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, United States Tatyana Adayev, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, United States Emily Allen, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, United States Jessica Hunter, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, United States Veronica Hinton, Queens College & The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Queens & NYC, United States Category: Genetics/Genetic Disorders Keyword 1: genetic disorders Keyword 2: autism spectrum disorder Objective: Individuals with a fragile X premutation (PM) allele (defined as 55-200 CGG repeats on the X-linked FMR1 gene) have been shown to be at increased risk for both autistic traits (ATs) and a variety of psychiatric disorders. There are variable findings across studies highlighting the subtle, potentially sub-clinical, nature of the behavioral phenotype. Further there is a need for more unbiased studies using standardized measures in a large cohort of children . The current study examined the relationship between ATs and co-occurring psychiatric symptomatology in a large sample of non-referred children with PM. Participants and Methods: 384 children ages 3-11 who were identified prenatally as either having a PM allele or not (non-PM controls, NC) were included. Parent-reported social communication was measured with the 5 subscales of the Social Responsiveness Scale,-2. Parent-reported psychiatric symptomatology was measured with 4 scales from the Child Behavior Checklist (i.e., anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) problems). Participants included n=71 PM females, n=108 NC females and n=103 PM males, n=102 NC males. Logistic regressions were run by sex on each of the 5 SRS-2 subscale raw scores and 4 raw scores of the CBCL while covarying for age, to identify which subscales significantly differ between PM and NC. For SRS-2 subscales that significantly differentiated PM and NC, poisson regressions (due to non-normality of data distributions) were used to examine the association of elevated autistic traits to psychiatric symptomology. Given the number of analyses, a Bonferoni correction was applied and alpha was set at .002. Results: Results from the SRS-2 demonstrated that for females, the logistic regression approached significance for the social motivation subscale (ExpB=1.129, S.E. = .046, p = .009), but not for the other 4 SRS-2 subscales. For males, the logistic regression approached significance for the social awareness subscale (ExpB=1.061, S.E. = .026, p = .020) and for the social communication subscale (ExpB=1.048, S.E. = .021, p = .027), but not for the other SRS-2 subscales.. Results from the CBCL demonstrated that for females and males, the logistic regression was not significant for any subscales. When using the SRS-2 social motivation subscale as a predictor for females with the PM, the poisson regression was significant for ADHD problems (ExpB=.978, SEB=.024, p=.002, CI[.885, .973]). When using the SRS-2 social awareness subscale as a predictor for males with the PM, the poisson regression was not significant for any CBCL subscales. When using the SRS-2 social communication subscale as a predictor for males with the PM, the poisson regression was significant for anxiety problems (ExpB=.968, SEB=.010, p=.001, CI[.950, .987]). Conclusions: Findings indicated that in a non-referred cohort of children with a PM, there were increased reports of ATs but not psychiatric symptoms in males or females. However, when looking at the relationship between AT and psychiatric symptoms, elevated levels of ATs predicted elevated symptoms of anxiety in PM males and ADHD in PM females. The data confirm that ATs exist in PM children and contribute to co-occurring sub-clinical psychiatric symptoms.

Poster

02/14/2024
02:30 pm - 03:45 pm

Poster Session 01: Cognitive, Psychotherapeutic, and Psychosocial Intervention/Rehabilitation

Final Abstract #62

Autistic Traits and Co-Occurring Psychiatric Symptoms in Children with the Fragile X Premutation

Ariel Zucker, Queens College & The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Queens & NYC, United States
Declan Sung, Queens College, City University of New York, Queens, United States
Nicole Tortora, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, United States
Anne Glicksman, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, United States
Tatyana Adayev, NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, United States
Emily Allen, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, United States
Jessica Hunter, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, United States
Veronica Hinton, Queens College & The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Queens & NYC, United States

Category: Genetics/Genetic Disorders

Keyword 1: genetic disorders
Keyword 2: autism spectrum disorder

Objective:

Individuals with a fragile X premutation (PM) allele (defined as 55-200 CGG repeats on the X-linked FMR1 gene) have been shown to be at increased risk for both autistic traits (ATs) and a variety of psychiatric disorders. There are variable findings across studies highlighting the subtle, potentially sub-clinical, nature of the behavioral phenotype. Further there is a need for more unbiased studies using standardized measures in a large cohort of children . The current study examined the relationship between ATs and co-occurring psychiatric symptomatology in a large sample of non-referred children with PM.

Participants and Methods:

384 children ages 3-11 who were identified prenatally as either having a PM allele or not (non-PM controls, NC) were included. Parent-reported social communication was measured with the 5 subscales of the Social Responsiveness Scale,-2. Parent-reported psychiatric symptomatology was measured with 4 scales from the Child Behavior Checklist (i.e., anxiety, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) problems). Participants included n=71 PM females, n=108 NC females and n=103 PM males, n=102 NC males. Logistic regressions were run by sex on each of the 5 SRS-2 subscale raw scores and 4 raw scores of the CBCL while covarying for age, to identify which subscales significantly differ between PM and NC. For SRS-2 subscales that significantly differentiated PM and NC, poisson regressions (due to non-normality of data distributions) were used to examine the association of elevated autistic traits to psychiatric symptomology. Given the number of analyses, a Bonferoni correction was applied and alpha was set at .002.

Results:

Results from the SRS-2 demonstrated that for females, the logistic regression approached significance for the social motivation subscale (ExpB=1.129, S.E. = .046, p = .009), but not for the other 4 SRS-2 subscales. For males, the logistic regression approached significance for the social awareness subscale (ExpB=1.061, S.E. = .026, p = .020) and for the social communication subscale (ExpB=1.048, S.E. = .021, p = .027), but not for the other SRS-2 subscales.. Results from the CBCL demonstrated that for females and males, the logistic regression was not significant for any subscales. When using the SRS-2 social motivation subscale as a predictor for females with the PM, the poisson regression was significant for ADHD problems (ExpB=.978, SEB=.024, p=.002, CI[.885, .973]). When using the SRS-2 social awareness subscale as a predictor for males with the PM, the poisson regression was not significant for any CBCL subscales. When using the SRS-2 social communication subscale as a predictor for males with the PM, the poisson regression was significant for anxiety problems (ExpB=.968, SEB=.010, p=.001, CI[.950, .987]).

Conclusions:

Findings indicated that in a non-referred cohort of children with a PM, there were increased reports of ATs but not psychiatric symptoms in males or females. However, when looking at the relationship between AT and psychiatric symptoms, elevated levels of ATs predicted elevated symptoms of anxiety in PM males and ADHD in PM females. The data confirm that ATs exist in PM children and contribute to co-occurring sub-clinical psychiatric symptoms.