Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are two and half times more likely to have gastrointestinal (GI) problems as infants and toddlers than typically developing children, according to a new study. The research, published in the JAMA Pediatrics, found that young children with autism were at higher odds of having constipation, diarrhea and food allergy/intolerance well into their first three years of life.
“We not only learned that these symptoms appeared early in infancy; we also found that children with [autism spectrum disorder] were at significantly increased risk for these symptoms to persist compared with typically developing children,” first-author Michaeline Bresnahan, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, said in a news release.
Bresnahan and her colleagues based their research on data from a large Norwegian study in which mothers were asked to report GI symptoms during their children’s first three years. The babies in the study were divided into three groups: 195 children with ASD, 4,636 kids with developmental delays, and 40,295 children with typical development.
Analysis of the data revealed that children with ASD were at higher odds of their mothers reporting constipation and food allergy/intolerance in the 6- to 8-month range, and at higher odds of having diarrhea, constipation and food allergy/intolerance in the 18- to 36-month range when compared with children with typical development. The researchers also found that children with autism were more than twice as likely to have at least one GI problem in both age ranges when compared to children with delayed or typical development.
The study authors acknowledged that the relationship between GI problems and autism is not clear. Some experts speculate that the diets of children with autism may differ from children without the condition, because children with autism may prefer different foods. Other researchers have suggested genetics may be at play or that autism and GI symptoms may share an underlying mechanism.
The study authors also noted that while GI symptoms are common in early childhood, it was important for physicians to be aware that children with ASD may be experiencing stomach problems in the first three years of life. Treatments that address the symptoms, they wrote, “may significantly contribute to the well-being of children with ASD and may be useful in reducing difficult behaviors.”
Still, to put parents’ fears to rest, Bresnahan cautioned that while higher levels of GI symptoms are associated with autism, “the vast majority of children with these symptoms will not go on to develop autism, nor do all people with autism have GI problems as children. GI symptoms alone need not be cause for alarm,” she said.
