Craniofacial morphology of autism spectrum disorder in childhood age among Turkish population

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences and difficulties in social communication, the presence of special interests and repetitive behaviors. The identification of differences in the facial phenotype of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may reflect alterations in embryologic brain development in children with ASD. Craniofacial anomalies often occur in neurodevelopmental syndromes because the craniofacial regions originate intrauterine from the same ectodermal layer as the brain and continue to develop intrauterine. Studies have shown that these facial and micro physical anomalies (MFA) are associated with intellectual functioning. In this study, a total of 66 children with ASD (50 boys and 50 girls) aged 6-10 years were included. Head circumference and anthropometric points (head circumference, lateral canthus distance, philtrum height, nasal tip height, mandibular height (the distance from the lower lip line to the gnathion point), forehead height (the distance from the hairline to the glabella point), angulus oris distance) were determined and these distances were measured in each child. As a result of the measurements, it was observed that the head circumference measurement affected the severity of autism in both groups, girls and boys. The mean forehead height was 45.71 ± 6.88 (p=0.176), for girls and 38.95 ± 5.75 (p=0.200), for boys, and the mean head circumference was 52.13 ± 2.17 (p=0.166), for girls and 53.60 ± 2.14 (p=0.187) for boys. Head circumference is an important value for autism severity. Increasing head circumference and decreasing forehead height indicate an increase in the severity of ASD. In addition to previous studies, morphologic and morphometric evaluations of children with ASD living in Turkey are important in terms of grading and comparison of GOBDÖ2-TV and TİGE-II scores.