Original articlePositive Screening on the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborns
Section snippets
The ELGAN Study
The ELGAN Study was designed to identify characteristics and exposures that increase the risk of structural and functional neurologic disorders in ELGANs. During the years 2002 to 2004, women delivering before 28 weeks gestation at 1 of 14 participating institutions in 11 cities in 5 states were invited to enroll in the study. The enrollment and consent processes were approved by the individual institutional review boards.
Mothers were approached for consent either on antenatal admission or
Results
More than 21% (212/988) of all children screened positive for ASD on the M-CHAT (Table I). Among the children without motor, vision, hearing, or cognitive impairments, 10% screened positive (Table II). Because 2/3 of children with ASD also have cognitive impairment,5 excluding children from the referent group on the basis of cognitive limitations eliminates some who are at high risk for ASD. Consequently, we created a second referent group that excluded children with motor, vision, and hearing
Discussion
In ELGAN children, those with motor, vision, or hearing impairments are much more likely than others to screen positive on the M-CHAT. Because we have yet to assess these children for an ASD at an older age, we do not know whether those children with motor, vision, or hearing impairments really are at increased risk for ASD or whether their visual, hearing, and motor deficits are equated with characteristics commonly seen in autism, such as visual avoidance, inconsistent response to voice, and
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Cited by (0)
All of the authors are members of the ELGAN Study Group.
Supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (cooperative agreement 1 U01 NS 40069-01A2). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.