NEWDELHI, 20 JUNE

Younger siblings of children with autism could experience more developmental difficulties. Family history could affect development of siblings of children with autism, study finds. Researchers found that the younger siblings showed more severe difficulties in social communication, a common symptom of the neurodevelopmental disorder autism. Other symptoms could include repetitive behaviours and a heightened sensitivity of senses.

"Knowledge about family history of these disorders may improve efforts to predict long-term outcomes in younger siblings of children with autism and inform about factors contributing to varied observable traits and behaviours among them" said senior author Katarzyna Chawarska, a professor of child psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, USA.

Information about family history could also guide parents and pediatricians in monitoring and supporting the development of infants with risk factors for disorders such as autism, according to Chawarska. Family history could affect development of siblings of children with autism, study finds. The findings are published in the journal Autism Research. For the study, the researchers included 229 children having at least one elder sibling with autism and assessed their social, cognitive, language and adaptive skills.

 The children had an average age of about two years and were enrolled between March 2006 and May 2022. Parents of the 229 children were interviewed for knowing about family history. They were asked if relatives of their children, including grandparents and cousins, were affected by neurodevelopmental conditions such as delayed speech requiring therapy or intellectual disability, or by psychiatric ones such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

 Using statistical methods of analysis, the researchers found an increased presence of both kinds of disorders in the immediate and extended family members of the children with autism. "Among neurodevelopmental disorders, the most frequently reported condition was speech delay requiring therapy (64 per cent), followed by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (41 per cent) and intellectual disability (11 per cent)," the authors wrote.