Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders and their relation to selected factors among children aged 18-30 months in Hoa Binh province, 2017

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder among children, which is increasing worldwide and in Vietnam. This study reports the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders and examines their relation to selected factors (individual and familial factors) among children aged 18-30 months in Hoa Binh province, 2017.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study among 5,893 children aged 18-30 months in three districts/city in Hoa Binh province, using M-CHAT to screen children with high risks of ASD in the community. All of M-CHAT positive cases (101 cases) and about 2.5% of negative cases (155 cases) were invited for ASD diagnosis, in which 97 positive and 149 negative cases were diagnosed by pediatric psychiatrists from Vietnam National Children’s Hospital with criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4^th Edition (DSM-IV). Epidata 3.1 and SPSS 20 were used for the data entry and analysis.

Results: The overall prevalence of ASD among children aged 18-30 months in the study sites was 7.3‰. The odds of having ASD were significantly higher among those who were boys, living in urban area, having relatives with psychiatric disorders, birth defects and mothers with miscarriage, and induced abortion history.

Conclusion: Our study revealed that the prevalence of ASD among children seems to be increasing. ASD was significantly correlated with individual and familial factors. Further and large-scale studies are needed to investigate the ASD prevalence and its related factors.