Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of different levels of symptom severity may exhibit a wide range of behaviours and characteristics. There is a limited nutrition-related study on children with ASD of different severity in Malaysia. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to det...

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Main Authors: Eow, Shiang Yen, Gan, Wan Ying, Lim, Poh Ying, Awang, Hamidin, Mohd Shariff, Zalilah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2020
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/1/AUSTISM.pdf
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author Eow, Shiang Yen
Gan, Wan Ying
Lim, Poh Ying
Awang, Hamidin
Mohd Shariff, Zalilah
author_facet Eow, Shiang Yen
Gan, Wan Ying
Lim, Poh Ying
Awang, Hamidin
Mohd Shariff, Zalilah
author_sort Eow, Shiang Yen
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of different levels of symptom severity may exhibit a wide range of behaviours and characteristics. There is a limited nutrition-related study on children with ASD of different severity in Malaysia. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic factors, parental factors, and lifestyle factors with autism severity in children with ASD. Methods and procedures: A total of 224 children with ASD were included in this study. Their mothers completed a self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, autism severity, parenting style, parental feeding practices, parenting stress, child's sleep habits and eating behaviours. Outcomes and results: As high as 78.1 % of the children with ASD demonstrated a high level of autism severity. Multiple linear regression showed that father's employment status (B = 6.970, 95 % CI = 3.172, 10.768, p < 0.001) and perceived child weight (B = 3.338, 95 % CI = 1.350, 5.327, p = 0.001) predicted autism severity. Conclusions and implications: Children with ASD in this study had a high level of autism severity. Regular anthropometric measurements by healthcare professionals should be conducted at the autism intervention centres. It is important to have multidisciplinary collaboration in future research to develop customised guidelines for parents with autistic children.
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spelling upm-889642021-09-21T23:57:22Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/ Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Eow, Shiang Yen Gan, Wan Ying Lim, Poh Ying Awang, Hamidin Mohd Shariff, Zalilah Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) of different levels of symptom severity may exhibit a wide range of behaviours and characteristics. There is a limited nutrition-related study on children with ASD of different severity in Malaysia. Aims: This cross-sectional study aims to determine the association between sociodemographic factors, parental factors, and lifestyle factors with autism severity in children with ASD. Methods and procedures: A total of 224 children with ASD were included in this study. Their mothers completed a self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics, autism severity, parenting style, parental feeding practices, parenting stress, child's sleep habits and eating behaviours. Outcomes and results: As high as 78.1 % of the children with ASD demonstrated a high level of autism severity. Multiple linear regression showed that father's employment status (B = 6.970, 95 % CI = 3.172, 10.768, p < 0.001) and perceived child weight (B = 3.338, 95 % CI = 1.350, 5.327, p = 0.001) predicted autism severity. Conclusions and implications: Children with ASD in this study had a high level of autism severity. Regular anthropometric measurements by healthcare professionals should be conducted at the autism intervention centres. It is important to have multidisciplinary collaboration in future research to develop customised guidelines for parents with autistic children. Elsevier 2020 Article PeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/1/AUSTISM.pdf Eow, Shiang Yen and Gan, Wan Ying and Lim, Poh Ying and Awang, Hamidin and Mohd Shariff, Zalilah (2020) Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 100. art. no. 103632. pp. 1-11. ISSN 0891-4222; ESSN: 1873-3379 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0891422220300627 10.1016/j.ridd.2020.103632
spellingShingle Eow, Shiang Yen
Gan, Wan Ying
Lim, Poh Ying
Awang, Hamidin
Mohd Shariff, Zalilah
Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_full Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_fullStr Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_full_unstemmed Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_short Factors associated with autism severity among Malaysian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
title_sort factors associated with autism severity among malaysian children with autism spectrum disorder
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/88964/1/AUSTISM.pdf