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. 2019 Jan;49(1):83-95.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3697-4.

Physical health in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Setareh Alabaf  1 , Christopher Gillberg  2 , Sebastian Lundström  2   3 , Paul Lichtenstein  4 , Nóra Kerekes  5 , Maria Råstam  2   6 , Henrik Anckarsäter  3
Affiliations

Physical health in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Setareh Alabaf et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2019 Jan.

Erratum in

Abstract

With increasing numbers of children being diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) attention has been drawn to these children's physical health. We aimed to identify the prevalence of defined physical problems (epilepsy, migraine, asthma, cancer, diabetes, psoriasis, lactose intolerance, celiac disease, diarrhea, constipation, daytime enuresis, encopresis) in a nationwide population of 9- and 12-year-old twins subdivided into those with and without indications of NDDs. Parents of 28,058 twins participated in a well-validated telephone interview regarding their children's mental health and answered questions about their physical problems. The results indicate a high rate of physical problems in children with NDDs, particularly in those with indications of the presence of combinations of several NDDs.

Keywords: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Learning disorder (LD); Neurodevelopmental disorders; Physical health; Twins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of the study groups. In the present study, A-TAC high cut-offs were used as clinical proxies for ASD, ADHD and LD, which are included in the NDD group. The comparison group included only children who did not fulfill the low cut-off of any NDD. A-TAC autism-tics, ADHD and other comorbidities, NDD neurodevelopmental disorders, ASD autism spectrum disorder, ADHD attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder; LD learning disorder
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The figures show the prevalence of epilepsy (a), migraine (b), asthma (c), cancer (d), diabetes (e) and psoriasis (f) in our study groups and the statistical comparison to the comparison group consisting of twins who screened negative for neurodevelopmental disorders. Statistical significance is marked by stars, where p < 0.05 is represented by *, p < 0.01 by ** and p < 0.001 by ***. NDDs neurodevelopmental disorders, ASD autism spectrum disorder, ADHD attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and LD learning disorder
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The figures show the prevalence of lactose intolerance (a), celiac disease (b), diarrhea (c), constipation (d), daytime enuresis (e) and encopresis (f) in our study groups and the statistical comparison to the comparison group consisting of twins who screened negative for neurodevelopmental disorders. Statistical significance is marked by stars, where p < 0.05 is represented by *, p < 0.01 by ** and p < 0.001 by ***. NDDs neurodevelopmental disorders, ASD autism spectrum disorder, ADHD attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and LD learning disorder
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