Objectives: The objective of the current study was to investigate the relationship of Otitis Media occurrence in childhood and autism severity and language ability among 7-9 year old children with ASD. Results may inform potential factors involved in the development of deficits and symptom presentation within an identified critical age range.
Methods: Using individuals ascertained through the Simon’s Simplex Collection (distribution 8.2; http://SFARI.org), we investigated the occurrence of parent-reported occurrences of Otitis Media among 394 (348M; 46F) 7-9 year old children with ADI and ADOS-confirmed ASD diagnoses in relation to their autism severity scores and performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Children were divided into two occurrence groups identified as having either no occurrence of Otitis Media or at least once occurrence (and up to more than 8 occurrences). Autism severity scores based on the ADOS Calibrated Severity Score as well as standard scores on the PPVT were examined between Otitis Media groups
Results: A significant main effect for Otitis Media was found for the sample in relation to autism severity score. Children with at least once occurrence of Otitis Media during their development had significantly higher autism severity scores compared to those without an occurrence (F (5,1) = 4.659, p < .05). Main effects for OM were not found for PPVT performance, although age group showed a significant main effect (F (5,2) = 6.108, p, < .05) with ASD nine-year-olds performing significantly higher than both eight-year-olds and seven-year-olds on the test.
Conclusions: The current study suggests that the occurrence of Otitis Media during development could play an important role in autism severity and symptom expression among children in a critical age range for skill development. Importantly, the present effects observed coincide with other language, processing, and behavioral deficits in ASD populations specific to this particular age group.
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