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Priorities for Advancing Research on Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Co-occurring Anxiety

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Abstract

Research on anxiety disorders in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has burgeoned in the past two decades. Yet, critical gaps exist with respect to measuring and treating anxiety in this population. This study used the nominal group technique to identify the most important research priorities on co-occurring anxiety in ASD. An international group of researchers and clinicians with experience in ASD and anxiety participated in the process. Topics ranked as most important focused on understanding how ASD symptoms affect treatment response, implementing treatments in real world settings, developing methods to disentangle overlapping symptoms between anxiety and ASD, and developing objective measures to assess anxiety. Collectively, these priorities can lead to collaborative studies to accelerate research in the field.

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Acknowledgments

Dr. White has received the following Grant support: 1R34 MH104337-01, NIMH (White), R21/R33 MH100268, NIMH (White), R03 HD081070, NICHD (White, Abbott), Edith Trees Charitable Trust Foundation (Drs. Minshew and Mazefsky), Dr. Reaven has received the following Grant support: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) under the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) Grant T73MC11044, Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) under the University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCDEDD) Grant 90DD0632 of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant R33MH089291-0.

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Author notes

  1. Mikle South

    Present address: Durham University, Durham, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 3901 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21211, USA

    Roma A. Vasa & Amy Keefer

  2. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Education 2 South (L28), Denver, 13121 E., 17th Ave., Mailstop C-234, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Judy Reaven

  3. Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience, Brigham Young University, 245 TLRB, Provo, UT, 84602, USA

    Mikle South

  4. Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, 460 Turner St., Collegiate Square Suite 207, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Susan W. White

Authors
  1. Roma A. Vasa
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  2. Amy Keefer
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  3. Judy Reaven
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  4. Mikle South
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  5. Susan W. White
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Contributions

RAV and AK conceived of the study, participated in its design, contributed to data collection and interpretation of the findings, and contributed to drafting of the manuscript. JR, MS, and SWW contributed to data collection and interpretation of the findings and contributed to drafting of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roma A. Vasa.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Vasa, R.A., Keefer, A., Reaven, J. et al. Priorities for Advancing Research on Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Co-occurring Anxiety. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 925–934 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3320-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3320-0

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