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FRIDAY, Aug. 31, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with increased risk of depression in young adulthood, according to a study published online Aug. 31 in JAMA Network Open<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Dheeraj Rai, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and colleagues conducted a population-based study with a nested sibling comparison to examine whether individuals with ASD are more likely to be diagnosed with depression. Data were included for 735,096 children and young people aged 0 to 17 years who were ever resident in Stockholm County, Sweden, from January 2001 to December 2011. A total of 223,842 individuals were followed up to age 27 years by 2011, of whom 4,073 had diagnosed ASD.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that by age 27 years, 19.8 percent of individuals diagnosed with ASD had a diagnosis of depression, compared with 6.0 percent among the general population (adjusted relative risk [RR], 3.64). A higher risk of depression diagnosis was seen for ASD without versus ASD with intellectual disability (adjusted RR, 4.28 versus 1.81). Compared with the general population, non-autistic full siblings and half siblings also had increased risk of depression (adjusted RR, 1.37 and 1.42, respectively). Individuals with ASD had more than a two-fold increased risk of depression diagnosis compared with their non-autistic full siblings in young adulthood (adjusted odds ratio, 2.50).<\/p>\n
“ASD, particularly ASD without intellectual disability, is associated with depression by young adulthood compared with the general population,” the authors write.<\/p>\n