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. 2017 Jun;47(6):1673-1681.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3084-6.

Association of Rigid-Compulsive Behavior with Functional Constipation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Sarah Marler  1 , Bradley J Ferguson  2 , Evon Batey Lee  3 , Brittany Peters  1 , Kent C Williams  4 , Erin McDonnell  5 , Eric A Macklin  5 , Pat Levitt  6   7 , Kara Gross Margolis  8 , David Q Beversdorf  9 , Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele  10   11   12
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Association of Rigid-Compulsive Behavior with Functional Constipation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Sarah Marler et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2017 Jun.

Abstract

Based upon checklist data from the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network, we hypothesized that functional constipation (FC) would be associated with rigid-compulsive behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We used the Questionnaire on Pediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms-Rome III to assess FC symptoms in 108 children with ASD. As hypothesized, FC was associated with parent ratings on the Repetitive Behavior Scales-Revised (RBS-R) Compulsive, Ritualistic, and Sameness subscales in the overall population. Of note, FC was less common in children who were not taking medications that target behavior or treat FC. In the medication-free children, rigid-compulsive behavior was not significantly associated with FC. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these associations.

Keywords: Developmental; Enteric; Gut; Medical comorbidity; Microbiome; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Serotonin.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

This research was supported by a grant given to the Autism Treatment Network, Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA Grant# UA3MC11054).

Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele has served on advisory boards for Novartis and Roche Pharmaceuticals. He has received research funding from Novartis, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Seaside Therapeutics, Forest, Sunovion, and SynapDx.

Dr. Beversdorf has received research funding from Seaside Therapeutics.

The other authors report no conflicts of interests.

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