Gastrointestinal Problems in Children with Autism, Developmental Delays or Typical Development

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To compare GI problems among children with: 1) autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 2) developmental delay (DD) and 3) typical development (TD). METHODS: In 960 children from the CHildhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study, we assessed GI symptom frequency. We examined scores on five Aberrant Behavior Checklist subscales comparing ASD children with high vs. low frequency GI symptoms. RESULTS: Compared to TD children, those with ASD (aOR 7.92[4.89–12.85]) and DD (aOR 4.55 [2.51–8.24]) were more likely to have at least one frequent GI symptom. Restricting to ASD children, those with frequent abdominal pain, gaseousness, diarrhea, constipation or pain on stooling scored worse on Irritability, Social Withdrawal, Stereotypy, and Hyperactivity compared with children having no frequent GI symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Frequent GI problems affect young children with ASD and DD more commonly than those with TD. Maladaptive behaviors correlate with GI problems, suggesting these comorbidities require attention