Anthropometric measurements, children feeding behaviour and parent feeding style in childrens diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders

Aim: The purpose of this study is to compare the developmental nutritional characteristics, gastrointestinal symptoms, eating behaviors, their parents feeding style and some anthropometric measurements of ASD children admitted to the child psychiatry outpatient clinic to healty groups. Method: 104 patients between 3-12 years applied Inonu University School of Medicine, Turgut Ozal Medical Center Child and Adolescent Psychiatry clinic between January 2015 to January 2016 and diagnosed with ASD according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria as a result of psychiatric examinations and evaluations were included in this study. Research group of 100 children from matched by age and gender with the a control group of healthy volunteers was formed. Children made height and weight measurements by the researchers, Childhood Autism Rating Scale research group ratings , applied to all the other children of the research group and Aberran Behavior Checklist , in children Feeding Behavior Questionnaire, Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire, the Development Assessment Form and Sociodemographic Data Form were applied to the primary parental caregivers. Results: In the research group of 104 children 84 patients were male (80.8%) and 20 female (19.2%) and in the control group from the 100 children 71 male (71%) and 29 (29%) female gender were exist. The average age of the study group was 5.8 ± 2.29, the average age of the control group was 6.2 ± 2.61. In the infancy of the children in the study group It was detected that they choose much more, had more dificulty of feeding and passing additonal foods comparing to control group. In children in the study group constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain in infancy and currently ongoing constipation and vomiting were found to be significantly higher than the control group. The children in the study group compared to the control groups were fed a diet in a more limited range. In the children in the study group BMI-Z scores were significantly higher, Height-Z scores were significantly lower. The food enthusiastism, emotional over-eating, enjoyment of food, drink passion, emotional less eating and the food selectivity behavior were found significantly more in the children In the research group than control group. The parents of children in the study group were showing much more the style of emotional feeding, auxiliary feeding and controlled and toleranted feeding style comparing to control group. Conclusion: One of the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder is the deterioration of social interaction. The deterioration of social interaction and other features of ASD may be effective on feeding behavior and feeding style. This may cause problems such as obesity and short stature. Diagnosing and treatment of eating disorders that accompany ASD can prevent the patients from physical and mental problems that may accompany ASD and can improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Key Words: Autism, feeding, nutrition, obesity