Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-12-2023

Publication Title

Cureus

Keywords

medicine-pediatrics, child and youth mental health, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd), autism spectrum disorder and emotion, clinical anxiety

ISSN

2168-8184

Volume

15

Issue/No.

7

First Page

e41759

Abstract

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) individually and those with co-occurring ADHD and ASD experience higher rates of total anxiety and psychiatric comorbidities such as gender dysphoria and locomotor skills compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. In this study, it was hypothesized that youth with comorbid ADHD and ASD would experience higher levels of overall anxiety, specifically separation, generalized, and social anxiety. A literature review of relevant studies published from 2007 to 2020 was performed, with a search involving key terms such as "Anxiety," "ADHD" and "ASD'". It was discovered that individuals with ADHD or ASD had higher levels of anxiety compared to their peers. Furthermore, children who have co-occurring ADHD and ASD had more serve levels of anxiety than children with an individual diagnosis of ADHD or ASD. Children with ASD, ADHD, and co-occurring ADHD and ASD had a higher prevalence of gender dysphoria and impaired locomotor skills, which lead to higher levels of psychiatric comorbidities seen in this population. It can be hypothesized psychiatric comorbidities could also have implications for the high anxiety levels seen in this population but further research is needed to confirm this.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.7759/cureus.41759

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