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Association of Rigid-Compulsive Behavior with Functional Constipation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Based upon checklist data from the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network, we hypothesized that functional constipation (FC) would be associated with rigid-compulsive behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We used the Questionnaire on Pediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms—Rome III to assess FC symptoms in 108 children with ASD. As hypothesized, FC was associated with parent ratings on the Repetitive Behavior Scales—Revised (RBS-R) Compulsive, Ritualistic, and Sameness subscales in the overall population. Of note, FC was less common in children who were not taking medications that target behavior or treat FC. In the medication-free children, rigid-compulsive behavior was not significantly associated with FC. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these associations.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children and families who participated in this study. We would like to thank the children and families who participated in this study.

Funding

This research was supported by the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network and a grant from the AS-ATN as the Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA Grant# UA3MC11054).

Author Contributions

SM and BF contributed to participant recruitment, data collection, data entry, data interpretation and manuscript writing. EL, BP, KW, PL, KM, DB, and JV contributed to study design, data interpretation, and manuscript writing. EM and EM performed the statistical analysis and contributed to manuscript writing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Sarah Marler & Brittany Peters

  2. Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Bradley J. Ferguson

  3. Departments of Pediatrics, Psychology, and Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Evon Batey Lee

  4. Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Kent C. Williams

  5. Biostatistics Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Erin McDonnell & Eric A. Macklin

  6. Institute for the Developing Mind’s Developmental Neurogenetics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Pat Levitt

  7. Departments of Neurogenetics, Pediatrics, Neuroscience, Pharmacy, Psychiatry, Pathology and Psychology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Pat Levitt

  8. Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Kara Gross Margolis

  9. Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, The Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Departments of Radiology, Neurology, and Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    David Q. Beversdorf

  10. Department of Psychiatry and Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

  11. New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

  12. New York Presbyterian Hospital, Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, 1051 Riverside Drive, Mail Unit 78, New York, NY, USA

    Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

Authors
  1. Sarah Marler
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  2. Bradley J. Ferguson
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  3. Evon Batey Lee
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  4. Brittany Peters
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  5. Kent C. Williams
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  6. Erin McDonnell
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  7. Eric A. Macklin
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  8. Pat Levitt
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  9. Kara Gross Margolis
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  10. David Q. Beversdorf
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  11. Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele has served on advisory boards for Novartis and Roche Pharmaceuticals. He has received research funding from Novartis, Roche Pharmaceuticals, Seaside Therapeutics, Forest, Sunovion, and SynapDx. Dr. Beversdorf has received research funding from Seaside Therapeutics. The other authors report no conflicts of interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional review boards and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from parents of all child participants and from all adult participants included in the study. Child participants provided assent, when able. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Marler, S., Ferguson, B.J., Lee, E.B. et al. Association of Rigid-Compulsive Behavior with Functional Constipation in Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 1673–1681 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3084-6

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