Research article
Subjective face recognition difficulties, aberrant sensibility, sleeping disturbances and aberrant eating habits in families with Asperger syndrome
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* Corresponding author: Taina Nieminen-von Wendt taina.nieminen@kolumbus.fi
1 Department of Child Neurology, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
2 Department of Child Psychiatry, Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
3 Department of Molecular Medicine, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
4 Department of Medical Genetics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
5 Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, Helsinki University Hospital (Laboratory Services), Helsinki, Finland
BMC Psychiatry 2005, 5:20 doi:10.1186/1471-244X-5-20
Published: 12 April 2005Abstract
Background
The present study was undertaken in order to determine whether a set of clinical features, which are not included in the DSM-IV or ICD-10 for Asperger Syndrome (AS), are associated with AS in particular or whether they are merely a familial trait that is not related to the diagnosis.
Methods
Ten large families, a total of 138 persons, of whom 58 individuals fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for AS and another 56 did not to fulfill these criteria, were studied using a structured interview focusing on the possible presence of face recognition difficulties, aberrant sensibility and eating habits and sleeping disturbances.
Results
The prevalence for face recognition difficulties was 46.6% in individuals with AS compared with 10.7% in the control group. The corresponding figures for subjectively reported presence of aberrant sensibilities were 91.4% and 46.6%, for sleeping disturbances 48.3% and 23.2% and for aberrant eating habits 60.3% and 14.3%, respectively.
Conclusion
An aberrant processing of sensory information appears to be a common feature in AS. The impact of these and other clinical features that are not incorporated in the ICD-10 and DSM-IV on our understanding of AS may hitherto have been underestimated. These associated clinical traits may well be reflected by the behavioural characteristics of these individuals.