Authors: Sarah Marler Bradley J Ferguson Evon Batey Lee Brittany Peters Kent C Williams Erin McDonnell Eric A Macklin Pat Levitt Kara Gross Margolis David Q Beversdorf Jeremy VeenstraVanderWeele
Publish Date: 2017/03/13
Volume: 47, Issue: 6, Pages: 1673-1681
Abstract
Based upon checklist data from the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network we hypothesized that functional constipation FC would be associated with rigidcompulsive behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder ASD We used the Questionnaire on Pediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms—Rome III to assess FC symptoms in 108 children with ASD As hypothesized FC was associated with parent ratings on the Repetitive Behavior Scales—Revised RBSR Compulsive Ritualistic and Sameness subscales in the overall population Of note FC was less common in children who were not taking medications that target behavior or treat FC In the medicationfree children rigidcompulsive behavior was not significantly associated with FC More research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these associationsSM and BF contributed to participant recruitment data collection data entry data interpretation and manuscript writing EL BP KW PL KM DB and JV contributed to study design data interpretation and manuscript writing EM and EM performed the statistical analysis and contributed to manuscript writing All authors read and approved the final manuscriptDr VeenstraVanderWeele has served on advisory boards for Novartis and Roche Pharmaceuticals He has received research funding from Novartis Roche Pharmaceuticals Seaside Therapeutics Forest Sunovion and SynapDx Dr Beversdorf has received research funding from Seaside Therapeutics The other authors report no conflicts of interestsAll procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review boards and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards Informed consent was obtained from parents of all child participants and from all adult participants included in the study Child participants provided assent when able This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors
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