The sociodemographic and clinical profile of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The individuals with ASD have the symptoms of persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction and have restricted repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests or activities. These symptoms are present in the early developmental periods and it causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning in their lives. As there is sparse information available on the clinical and social profile of the individuals with ASD, this study was carried to identify the demographic characteristics of individuals with ASD and factors associated with severity of ASD. Perusal of the case records of patients diagnosed with ASD from the period of 2013 – 2019 from the department of psychiatry of Chengalpattu medical college hospital was carried out. Two third of individuals with ASD also have Intellectual Disability, more than half the mothers of individuals with ASD did not breastfeed beyond 12 months, about one third of individuals with ASD  have not availed any kind of services. It takes arounds 6 years of age for the parents/ individuals with ASD to seek treatment help.