Current Pediatric Research

Background: Clinical characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) provide usefulinformation for early diagnosis and intervention. Little is known about the information of ASD inchildren in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.Objectives: We aimed to determine clinical characteristics and associated socio-demographic factors ofASD in Vietnamese children in the Mekong Delta.

Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on 32 children diagnosed with ASD.Patients were recruited from Can Tho Psychiatric Hospital and Can ThoChildren's Hospital. Theseverity of autism was assessed by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) with 15 items. Parentsof the children were interviewed to collect socio-demographic information.

Results: Speech delay was the most common abnormality noticed by families (68.8%). We found that59.4% of the sample was with severe autism. Boys were more impaired than girls in all CARS items.The most severe items went on verbal communication, activity level and intellectual response level and consistency. Age of noticing abnormalities, assessment, and diagnosis were 23.8 months, 32.6 months,and 36.5 months respectively.

Conclusion: Our study was the first to reveal the percentage of severe autism according to CARS inCan Tho, which was higher than those in other countries but consistent with other local studies inVietnam. Further studies with a larger scale and adequate period surveyed are necessary to identifythe relationship between related factors and ASD severity.

Author(s): Phuong Minh Nguyen, ThangThienTran, Tuan Van Tran, Linh Van Pham, Doat Van Do, DinhThi Kim Le, Thao Phuong Ngo, Han Gia Diep, Thang Nguyen*

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