ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To study disorders of mental development and psychopathological symptoms in young children with autistic disorders of various origins. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Two hundred and sixty-five children, aged 9 months to 4 years, (201 boys, 64 girls) with symptoms of autistic disorder were examined. The patients were divided into two age groups - the 1st group consisted of 36 children, aged 9 months to 2 years, the 2nd group consisted of 229 children from 2 years to 4 years. Psychopathological, neurological and clinical-dynamic methods were used, taking into account the results of consultations with a speech therapist, defectologist, psychologist. RESULTS: The number of visits to a psychiatrist by parents of children older than two years becomes significantly higher - 13.6% (n=36) and 86.4% (n=112), respectively (p≤0.05), as well as the diagnosis of autistic disorder - 8.3% (n=3) and 16.2% (n=37) respectively, p≤0.05). In both age groups, the diagnosis of «Other general developmental disorders¼ (F84.8) was most often established, with a significant predominance in the younger group - 80.5% and 72%, respectively (p≤0.05). Characteristic symptoms-markers of autism for both age groups are highlighted. It is shown that the diagnoses of childhood autism, Kanner syndrome, exposed at the first treatment, were preserved in all patients after three years. By the age of four, it was possible to clarify the diagnosis in 32% of cases. At the same time, 68% of patients, aged 4 years, retained a clinically undifferentiated diagnosis of F84.8. CONCLUSION: The study showed an increase in the diagnosis of autistic disorder during the first years of life. The necessity of increasing the knowledge of early-age psychiatry among specialists and the organization of a system of early detection, timely treatment and rehabilitation of autistic disorders in children of the first years of life in children's polyclinics is noted.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder , Child , Male , Female , Humans , Child, Preschool , Autistic Disorder/diagnosis , Autistic Disorder/epidemiology , Autistic Disorder/therapy , Early DiagnosisABSTRACT
AIM: To study characteristics of neurological status in children with schizophrenia and schizotypal disorder. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A study included 80 children, aged from 5 to 10 years: 38 children were diagnosed with schizophrenia (ICD-10 F20.8Ñ Ñ 3) and 42 with schizotypal disorder (F21). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Children of both groups had a wide spectrum of neurological symptoms, diffuseness of which indicated the disintegration of the multilevel system of motor analyzer. No topical between-group differences were found whereas their intensity and frequency was not correlated to either the severity or a stage (exacerbation - remission) of disease. The more marked was disease progression and severity of mental disorders, the greater was the amount and clearness of neurological disorders. There was a predominance of disorders of motor regulation and integration, various extrapyramidal disturbances. As a consequence, in absence of paresis and paralyses, there was not merely the alteration of the function per se but rather of its integrity, completeness, consistency with other mental acts that turned to be the neurologic equivalent of discordance and inconsistency of mental functions specific of schizophrenia. These neurological symptoms may be considered as topic markers of the changes in the brain and dynamics of endogenous process. Transitory and instable character of these symptoms, along with the deficits of extrapyramidal and cortical regulation outside of the process exacerbation, indicates the insufficiency of neurotransmitter mechanisms.
