Co-morbidity in autism: a review

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is the most prevalent form of neurodevelopmental disorder that interferes with social communication and behavioral development. Most of the toddlers with ASD also show other psychiatric and/ or medical issues. This disorder is known as ‘comorbidity’, and the conditions associated with comorbidity are defined as ‘comorbid’ conditions. The most common comorbid conditions seen in autism are tourette syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, ADHD, sleep problem, epilepsy and seizure, gastrointestinal dysfunction, fragile X syndrome etc. Other conditions, such as, obesity, intellectual disability, OCD, fragile X syndrome, depression, bipolar disorder, motor difficulties, down syndrome may also involve. This poses some serious challenges. For instance, as several conditions are associated, differentiating among the symptoms becomes a serious issue. It also interferes in selecting medication and treatment in according to their root cause so that the choice of treatment does not deteriorate other conditions. Therefore, the aim of this study is to highlight the co-morbid conditions associated with ASD, their symptoms, probable causes, present treatment/ management available by reviewing different reputed articles.