Syed Hashim Raza, Aimen Waris, Rehmana Waris, Ramish Riaz.
Prevalence of Regression of Developmental Skills in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Report from Pakistan.
Pak Paed J Jan ;45(4):429-33.

Objective: To find the prevalence of regressive versus developmental delay pattern in autistic children. Study Design: Retrospective study. Place & Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Children Department; Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. Duration of study was three years from June 2017 to August 2020. Material and Methods: All children <=5 years coming first time for assessment of ASD and diagnosed on Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised ADI-R and Autism Diagnosis Observation Schedule ADOS-2 were included in the study. Total 330 children fulfilled the criterion. Detailed history and developmental details of early development were taken. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS v25. Results: Mean age of the children was 4.6 +- 3.88 years with male preponderance (n=255, 77.3%). Ninety-one (27.6%) of the children had positive family history. Regression of milestones was found in thirty-nine (11.8%) of the patients while developmental delay was present in 291 (88.2%) of the children. Males were found to have higher risk (OR=6.2, RR=5.4, p<0.01) of regression than females. No association (OR=0.89, RR=0.91, p=0.77) was found between regression of milestones and positive family history of disease. Conclusion: Results of current study indicate that regressive autism is not uncommon in Pakistani population. This should be given appropriate consideration otherwise it can lead to misdiagnosis resulting in poor prognosis.

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