Table 3.
Physical health comorbidity, family history, social demographics and substance use in participants with ASD and matched controls
| Participants with ASD (n, %) | Matched controls (n, %) | Odds ratio (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Currently working | 31, 32.0% | 53, 72.6% | 0.174 (0.09–0.35) | <0.001 |
| Currently not working because of sickness/disablement | 48, 49.5% | 1, 0.01% | 69.305 (9.23–520.42) | <0.001 |
| Biological children | 36, 35.6% | 41, 54.0% | 0.526 (0.26–1.05) | 0.068 |
| Married or cohabiting | 49, 50.5% | 58, 76.3% | 0.29 (0.14–0.64) | 0.002 |
| Regular smoker | 34, 43.0% | 35, 46.1% | 1.017 (0.99–1.04) | 0.169 |
| Problems due to alcohol use | 21, 36.2% | 5, 8.3% | 6.42 (2.20–18.72) | 0.001 |
| Regular cannabinoids use | 22, 27.9% | 16, 21.1% | 1.00 (0.97–1.03) | 0.903 |
| Problems due to cannabinoid use | 9, 29.0% | 4, 16.0% | 1.02 (0.96–1.08) | 0.590 |
| Use of other street drugs | 10, 12.5% | 4, 5.3% | 0.99 (0.95–1.04) | 0.711 |
| Problems due to other street drugs use | 4, 33.3% | 1, 7.7% | 0.98 (0.89–1.08) | 0.682 |
| Physical health comorbidity | ||||
| Respiratory | 36, 34.3% | 16, 21.1% | 1.84 (0.91–3.71) | 0.089 |
| Neurological | 42, 40.0% | 14, 14.0% | 2.83 (1.40–5.74) | 0.004 |
| Metabolic | 18, 17.1% | 8, 18.4% | 1.66 (0.67–4.11) | 0.269 |
| Rheumatological and orthopaedic | 12, 11.4% | 3, 3.9% | 3.06 (0.82–11.33) | 0.095 |
| Cardiological | 17, 16.2% | 6, 7.9% | 2.09 (0.77–5.66) | 0.148 |
| Renal and gastrointestinal | 5, 4.8% | 4, 5.3% | 0.91 (0.23–3.59) | 0.896 |
| Oncological | 1, 1.0% | 0, 0% | – | 0.996 |
| Family history | ||||
| FHx ADHD | 14 (14.1%) | 9 (12.2%) | 1.22 (0.49–3.02) | 0.674 |
| FHx bipolar disorder | 9 (9.3%) | 11 (15.1%) | 0.58 (0.22–1.51) | 0.265 |
| FHx schizophrenia | 6 (6.3%) | 3 (4.1%) | 1.58 (0.38–6.60) | 0.529 |
| FHx dementia | 22 (22.4%) | 16 (22.5%) | 1.01 (0.48–2.11) | 0.977 |
| FHx PTSD | 5 (5.1%) | 2 (2.7%) | 1.80 (0.34–9.67) | 0.491 |
| FHx autism | 30 (34.1%) | 16 (21.6%) | 2.16 (1.03–4.53) | 0.041 |
Reported physical health comorbidity, family health history, social demographics and substance use in participants with ASD based on the National Centre for Mental Health questionnaire response fields. The comparison group are matched healthy controls. For normally distributed samples, analyses were binomial logistic regression, with age and gender as covariates. Where data were non-normally distributed, the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U-test was used, with Fisher's exact test for expected cell counts fewer than five. n indicates the number of individuals; % indicates the percentage of the total amount of participants that responded.
ASD, autism spectrum disorder; FHx, reported family history; ADHD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.