Neurodevelopmental disorders are a group of conditions that a child may develop during childhood[1]. Are characterized by impairments in cognition, communication, behavior and/or skills resulting from abnormal brain development[2].This group of conditions may cause disability during the life of the child[3]. Social, academic, and occupational functions are some of the aspects that may be affected in their lives (APA, 2013). Also, children affected by Neurodevelopmental Disorders may experience delays or deficits in achieving developmental milestones (APA, 2013). According to ICD-11 the Neurodevelopmental disorders are Disorders of Intellectual Development, Developmental Speech or Language Disorders, Attention Deficit, and Hyperactive Disorder, Stereotyped movement disorders, Motor coordination disorders, Developmental Learning disorders, Autism and Others Neurodevelopmental disorders[4].
Neurodevelopmental disorders can have similar symptoms[5]. All the symptoms are related to cerebral dysfunction and cognitive problems. Also, poor motor abilities can be present in children with NDD affecting academic achievement[6]. Furthermore, many of these children can present aggressive behaviors and sensory processing problems[7] [8]. Prevalence of NDDs’ in males twice the prevalence in females[9]. The two most prevalent NDDs’ in the United States are ASD and ADHD[10]
The NDDs’ can co-occur[11] . Many times Communication di As well, these children can suffer from other comorbidities[12]. Other mental and physical diseases can be present, along with Neurodevelopmental disorders. Furthermore, studies found higher prevalence of Psychiatric disorders in family history of diseases of children with Autism. A study concluded that the psychiatric disorders in parents of children with Autism were higher compared to the parents of children without Autism[13]. Other study found that bipolar disorder in both parents increased the risk in the offspring[14]. Also, another study on Denmark concluded that the history of any psychiatric disorder increased the risk of Autism and suggested that the cause is a genetic link between schizophrenia and autism[15].
Furthermore, in the United States, researchers found that children were twice more at risk of developing Autism Spectrum Disorder in families where two or more family members had an Auto-immune disease[16]. The families with three or more members were 5.5 more likely, and the children whose mother suffered from an auto-immune illness were 8.8 more likely at risk of developing ASD. Asthma and allergies are two Auto-immune diseases strongly associated[17]. However, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between suffering from Asthma and Autism. The study assessed ORs from ten studies. However, although asthma has a high prevalence in children with Autism, no association was found[18].
This study has the purpose of developing an epidemiological profile of children with Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) in south of Puerto Rico. Also, this study has the objective to identify the clinical characteristics and family history of diseases. Furthermore, to evaluate the association between comorbidities reported and family history of diseases reported with the Neurodevelopmental diagnosis.
[1] APA. (2013). Neurodevelopmental disorders (Vol. 5). Washington DC: New School Library.
[2] Mullin, A. P., Gokhale, A., Moreno-De-Luca, A., Sanyal, S., Waddington, J. L., & Faundez, V. (2013). Neurodevelopmental disorders: mechanisms and boundary definitions from genomes,interactomes and proteomes. Translational Psychiatry, doi:doi:10.1038/tp.2013.108
[3] ACE. (2015). Health: Neurodevelopmental Disorders. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-07/documents/neurodevelopmental_updates_0.pdf
[4] Stein, D. J., Szatmari, P., Gaebel, W., Vieta, E., Maj, M., de Vries, Y. A., . . . Reed, G. M. (2020). Mental,behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders in the ICD-11: and international perspective on key changes and controversies. BMC Medicine, 18(21). doi:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-1495-2
[5] Van Loo, K. M. J., & Martens, G. J. M. (2007). Genetic and Enviromental Factors in Complex Neurodevelomental Disorders. Current Genomics, 8(7), 429-444.
[6] Higashionna, T., Iwanaga, R., Tokunaga, A., Nakai, A., Tanaka, K., Nakane, H., & Tanaka, G. (2017). Relationship between motor coordination,cognitive abilities, and academic achievement in Japanese children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Hong Kong Journal of Occupational Therapy, 30, 49-55.
[7] CDC. (2018a). Disability and Safety: Agressive Behavior and Violence. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandsafety/aggression.html
[8] Holland, K. (2019, September 20, 2019). Understanding Sensory Issues in Children. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/sensory-issues-in-children
[9] Boyle, C. A., Boulet, S., Scheleve, L. A., Cohen, R. A., Blumberg, S. J., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., . . . Kogan, M. D. (2011). Trends in the prevalence of developmental disabilities in US children,1997-2008. Pediatrics, 6, 1034-1042. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-2989
[10] NCBDD. (2019, September 26,2019). Increase in Developmental Disabilities Among Children in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/developmentaldisabilities/features/increase-in-developmental-disabilities.html
[11] Megan-Cleaton, M. A., & Kirby, A. (2018). Why Do We find it so Hard to Calculate the Burden of Neurodevelopmental Disorders? Journal of Childhood & Developmental Disorders, 4(3). doi:10.4172/2472-1786.100073
[12] Alabaf, S., Gillberg, C., Lundstrom, S., Lichtenstein, P., Kerekes, N., Rastam, M., & Anckarsater, H. (2019). Physical health in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49, 83-95
[13] Daniels, J. L., Forssen, U., Hultman, C. M., Cnattingius, S., Savitz, D. A., Feychting, M., & Sparen, P. (2008). Parental psychiatric disorders associated with autism spectrum disorders in the offspring. Pediatrics, 121(5), e1357-1362. doi:10.1542/peds.2007-2296
[14] Sullivan, P., Magnusson, C., Reichenberg, A., Boman, M., Dalman, C., Davidson, M., . . . Lichtenstein, P. (2012). Family History of Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as risk factors for Autism. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 69, 1099–1103. doi: doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.730
[15] Larsson, H. J., Eaton, W. W., Madsen, K. M., Vestergaard, M., Olesen, A. V., Agerbo, E., . . . Mortensen, P. B. (2005). Risk factors for autism: perinatal factors, parental psychiatric history, and socioeconomic status. Am J Epidemiol, 161(10), 916-925; discussion 926-918. doi:10.1093/aje/kwi123
[16] Comi, A. M., Zimmerman, A. W., Frye, V. H., Law, P. A., & Peeden, J. N. (1999). Familial clustering of autoimmune disorders and evaluation of medical risk factors in autism. J Child Neurol, 14(6), 388-394. doi:10.1177/088307389901400608
[17] Croen, L. A., Grether, J. K., Yoshida, C. K., Odouli, R., & Hendrick, V. (2011). Antidepressant use during pregnancy and childhood autism spectrum disorders. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 68(11), 1104-1112. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.73
[18] Zheng, Z., Zhang, L., Zhu, T., Huang, J., Qu, Y., & Mu, D. (2016). Association between Asthma and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Meta-Analysis. PLoS One, 11(6). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156662