National screening for Egyptian children aged 1 year up to 12 years at high risk of Autism and its determinants: a step for determining what ASD surveillance needs

Ammal M Metwally; Mona A Helmy; Ebtissam M Salah El-Din; Rehan M Saleh; Ehab R Abdel Raouf; Ali M Abdallah; Zeinab Khadr; Amal Elsaied; Mostafa M El-Saied; Randa I Bassiouni; Dina A Nagi; Manal A Shehata; Inas R El-Alameey; Hazem M El-Hariri; Somia I Salama; Thanaa M Rabah; Ghada A Abdel-Latif; Lobna A El Etreby; Dalia M Elmosalami; Samia M Sami; Eman Eltahlawy; Nihad A Ibrahim; Nahed A Elghareeb; Hala Y Badawy; Eman M Dewdar; Engy A Ashaat

doi:10.1186/s12888-023-04977-5

National screening for Egyptian children aged 1 year up to 12 years at high risk of Autism and its determinants: a step for determining what ASD surveillance needs

BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Jun 28;23(1):471. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04977-5.

Authors

Ammal M Metwally¹, Mona A Helmy², Ebtissam M Salah El-Din³, Rehan M Saleh⁴, Ehab R Abdel Raouf⁵, Ali M Abdallah⁶, Zeinab Khadr^{7

8}, Amal Elsaied⁵, Mostafa M El-Saied⁵, Randa I Bassiouni⁹, Dina A Nagi⁹, Manal A Shehata³, Inas R El-Alameey³, Hazem M El-Hariri⁴, Somia I Salama⁴, Thanaa M Rabah⁴, Ghada A Abdel-Latif⁴, Lobna A El Etreby⁴, Dalia M Elmosalami⁴, Samia M Sami³, Eman Eltahlawy², Nihad A Ibrahim⁴, Nahed A Elghareeb¹⁰, Hala Y Badawy¹⁰, Eman M Dewdar¹⁰, Engy A Ashaat⁹

Affiliations

¹ Community Medicine Research Department/ Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, Cairo, 60014618, Dokki, Egypt. ammal_mok@yahoo.com.
² Environmental and Occupational Medicine Department, Environmental and Climate Change Research Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, 60014618, Egypt.
³ Child Health Department/ Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, 60014618, Egypt.
⁴ Community Medicine Research Department/ Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, Cairo, 60014618, Dokki, Egypt.
⁵ Child With Special Needs Dept./ Medical Research and Clinical Studies Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo, 60014618, Egypt.
⁶ Quantitative Methods Department - Aswan University, Tingar, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
⁸ The Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt.
⁹ Clinical Genetics Dept./ Human Genetics and Genome Research Institute, National Research Centre , Dokki, Cairo, 60014618, Egypt.
¹⁰ Disability Prevention General Directorate, Ministry of Health and Population, Cairo, Egypt.

Abstract

This study aimed to provide a national estimate of the prevalence of the high risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their determinants. A national screening survey was conducted for 41,640 Egyptian children aged 1 to 12 years in two phases. Tools used were Vineland's Adaptive Behavior Scales, Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers, Gilliam Autism Rating scale, and Denver II Developmental screening test. The overall prevalence of children at high risk of ASD was 3.3% (95% CI:3.1%-3.5%). Children living without mothers in homes, suffered from convulsions (AOR = 3.67; 95%CI:2.8-4.8), a history of cyanosis after birth (AOR = 1.87; 95% CI:1.35-2.59) or history of LBW babies (AOR = 1.53; 95% CI:1.23-1.89) carried higher odds of being at high risk of ASD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Egyptian national prevalence; Epidemiological characteristics; Perinatal; Socio-demographic.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Autism Spectrum Disorder* / diagnosis
Autism Spectrum Disorder* / epidemiology
Autistic Disorder*
Checklist
Egypt / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Infant