Brief Report: Prevalence of Self-injurious Behaviors among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder-A Population-Based Study

Gnakub N Soke; Steven A Rosenberg; Richard F Hamman; Tasha Fingerlin; Cordelia Robinson; Laura Carpenter; Ellen Giarelli; Li-Ching Lee; Lisa D Wiggins; Maureen S Durkin; Carolyn DiGuiseppi

doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2879-1

Brief Report: Prevalence of Self-injurious Behaviors among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder-A Population-Based Study

J Autism Dev Disord. 2016 Nov;46(11):3607-3614. doi: 10.1007/s10803-016-2879-1.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Heath, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA. Gnakub.soke@ucdenver.edu.
² Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
³ Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Heath, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA.
⁵ Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
⁶ College of Nursing and Health Professions, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, USA.
⁷ Departments of Epidemiology and Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
⁸ National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA.
⁹ University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, 53726, USA.

Abstract

Self-injurious behaviors (SIB) have been reported in more than 30 % of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in clinic-based studies. This study estimated the prevalence of SIB in a large population-based sample of children with ASD in the United States. A total of 8065 children who met the surveillance case definition for ASD in the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network during the 2000, 2006, and 2008 surveillance years were included. The presence of SIB was reported from available health and/or educational records by an expert clinician in ADDM Network. SIB prevalence averaged 27.7 % across all sites and surveillance years, with some variation between sites. Clinicians should inquire about SIB during assessments of children with ASD.

Keywords: Autism; Autism spectrum disorder; Challenging behaviors; Prevalence; Self-injurious behaviors.

MeSH terms

Autism Spectrum Disorder / diagnosis
Autism Spectrum Disorder / epidemiology*
Autism Spectrum Disorder / psychology
Child
Comorbidity
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Male
Prevalence
Self-Injurious Behavior / diagnosis
Self-Injurious Behavior / epidemiology*
Self-Injurious Behavior / psychology
United States

Grants and funding

CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States