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. 2023 Sep;53(9):3422-3434.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05635-7. Epub 2022 Jul 4.

The Autism Impact Measure (AIM): Meaningful Change Thresholds and Core Symptom Changes Over One Year from an Online Survey in the U.S

Mariabeth Silkey  1 , Gonzalo Durán-Pacheco  1 , Michelle Johnson  2   3 , Chuang Liu  1 , Susanne Clinch  4 , Kiely Law  5   6 , Georg Loss  1
Affiliations

The Autism Impact Measure (AIM): Meaningful Change Thresholds and Core Symptom Changes Over One Year from an Online Survey in the U.S

Mariabeth Silkey et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Sep.

Erratum in

Abstract

Validated outcome measures with the capacity to reflect meaningful change are key to assessing potential interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We derive clinically meaningful change thresholds (MCTs) of the Autism Impact Measure (AIM) and identify factors associated with meaningful change. Baseline and 12-months follow-up survey of caregivers of 2,761 children with ASD aged 3-17 years from the U.S. Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) cohort were analyzed. Using caregiver-reported anchors for change, the 12-month change in estimated AIM MCT (95% confidence interval) for symptom improvement was -4.5 (-7.61, -1.37) points and 9.9 (5.12, 14.59) points for symptom deterioration. These anchor-based MCTs will facilitate future assessments of caregiver-reported change in AIM scores.

Keywords: Autism Impact Measure; Autism spectrum disorder; Caregiver Global Impression of Change; Caregiver-reported anchors; Longitudinal data analysis; Minimal clinically important difference.

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Conflict of interest statement

CL and GDP are full-time employees of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. MJ is a full-time employee of Roche Products Ltd. SC is a full-time employee of Roche Products Ltd and has stocks in F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. GL and MS were employees of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd at the time this study was completed. KL is a research consultant with the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, which funds and operates SPARK.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Participant flow diagram for follow-up study. aEligibility criteria: caregivers of individuals with ASD, aged 3–17 years, who participated in the baseline assessment and submitted an AIM questionnaire with ≤ 20% of missing items at baseline; Parentheses show % of total participants sent the invitation email. AIM Autism Impact Measure, ASD autism spectrum disease, CaGI Caregiver-reported Global Impression surveys, SPARK Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Change in total AIM score versus the primary anchor (overall caregiver impression of change). aResponse to question “Please indicate how much change your child has experienced between 12 months ago and today in his/her overall autism.” Horizontal bars show medians, boxes show interquartile ranges, whiskers show Tukey intervals. AIM Autism Impact Measure, CaGI-C Caregiver-reported Global Impression of Change survey
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Primary and secondary anchor-based, within-person meaningful change thresholds for improvement and deterioration. aN = 2761; bN = 2760; AIM Autism Impact Measure, ASD autism spectrum disorder, CI confidence interval
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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