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Exploring the Relationship Between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Epilepsy Using Latent Class Cluster Analysis

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Abstract

Epilepsy co-occurs frequently in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Understanding this co-occurrence requires a better understanding of the ASD-epilepsy phenotype (or phenotypes). To address this, we conducted latent class cluster analysis (LCCA) on an ASD dataset (N = 577) which included 64 individuals with epilepsy. We identified a 5-cluster solution with one cluster showing a high rate of epilepsy (29%), earlier age at first recognition, and high rates of repetitive object use and unusual sensory interests. We also conducted LCCA on an ASD-epilepsy subset from the overall dataset (N = 64) which yielded three clusters, the largest of which had impairments in language and motor development; the remaining clusters, while not as developmentally impaired were characterized by different levels of repetitive and sensory behaviors.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the individuals with autism and their family members who participated in this study and personnel at the John P. Hussman Institute of Human Genomics (HIHG). This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (NS26630, NS36768 and MH080647) and by a gift from the Hussman Foundation. A subset of the participants was ascertained while Dr. Cuccaro was a faculty member at Duke University.

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Correspondence to Michael L. Cuccaro.

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Cuccaro, M.L., Tuchman, R.F., Hamilton, K.L. et al. Exploring the Relationship Between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Epilepsy Using Latent Class Cluster Analysis. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 1630–1641 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1402-y

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