Transcript What causes disorders to co

Understanding Cooccurring Psychiatric
Disorders in Autism
Emily Simonoff
0.8
0.8
proportion
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.2
0.2
0
0
Emotional
Emotional
ADHD
Anxiety
Disruptive
behavioural
behavioural
disorder
disorder
Autism General population
Autism General population
What causes disorders to co-occur
Alternative models Shared risk
factors
• Phenotypic causality
• Phenocopy
Methods for testing models
• Genetics
• Longitudinal studies
• Neurocognitive/imaging markers
• Interventions
Clinical cohorts
Epidemiological
Samples
Findings
Model
Evidence
Shared risk
factors
Twin studies show high genetic
correlation between ADHD and
autism
Autism symptoms at 7 predict
anxiety at 12 but not vice versa
Phenotypic
causality
Phenocopy
For: reduced effects of stimulant
treatment of ADHD in autism
Against: IQ-controlled trials show no
effect of autism on treatment effect