Evaluation of autistic spectrum disorders screening in children of Khorramabad (West of Iran) between 2015 and 2016

ABSTRACT

Aims: The present study aims to screen autistism spectrum disorder in children attending pediatric clinic. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 1500 children aged 1.5 to 4 years old in pediatric clinic in Khorramabad. After recording the demographic data, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers screening test was performed in this study Results: Out of 1500 participants, 704 (46.9%) were boys and 796 (53.1%) were girls. The age group of 18-36 months had the highest screening (74%). 23 (1.5%) of the participants had diagnostic and statistical criteria for Autism Spectrum disorders. Conclusion: The screening shows that, 23 in 1500 had autism in this study, which shows its high value in the country. Therefore, further assessments are recommended on the causes of this high number with larger sample sizes over a longer period of time, along with investigation of the relationship between the factors of autism.

KEYWORDS:

• Prevalence
• autism
• spectrum disorders
• M-CHAT screening

Acknowledgements

We greatly thank the ‘Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khoramabad, Iran’.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr. Mojgan Faraji Goodarzi got MD at Iran University of Medical Sciences. He is a specialist in pediatrics.

Dr. Nadereh Taee got MD at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. She is specialist in pediatrics.

Dr. Pegah Abbasi Hormozi, got MD at Lorestan University of Medical Science.

ORCID

Nadereh Taee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5695-9101

Additional information

Funding

All the funds were provided from the research centre’s fund - Lorestan University of Medical Sciences and were deployed accordingly.