Socio-economic Status in Egyptian Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Does It Affect Autism Severity?

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES) exerts a crucial impact on the prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases worldwide.The objective of the current study is to assess the SES in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its relation to clinical characteristics and disease severity.Patients and methods: This was a cohort including 200 children diagnosed with ASD, using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) criteria.Severity was assessed using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS).SES was determined using the scoring system for measurement of socioeconomic status (SES) in health research in Egypt which was originally developed by Fahmy and El Sherbini in 1983 and then updated by El -Gilany in 2012.Results: In the studied patients, 57% of the children with ASD belonged to the middle SES group, compared to 21% and 22% in the low and high SES groups, respectively.Children with lower SES scores were more likely to experience a delayed diagnosis (p = 0.016).Those with higher SES scores fared better, with lower CARS scores and higher non-verbal IQ scores (P values 0.034 and 0.003, respectively).The SES and ASD severity groups differed in a few ways, but the values did not reach statistical significance level.Conclusion: Targeting certain socioeconomic and demographic factors involved in autism could help to implement tailored preventive and management strategies.