Sensory Phenotypes of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Sensory Phenotypes of Autism Spectrum Disorder Across Lifespan: Prospective Cohort Study and Sensory-Social Paradigm Establishment

This project plans to establish sensory phenotypes of a Taiwanese ASD cohort across lifespan, including variety of sensory modalities, sensory domains, and clinical correlates.

Also, we will clarify the relationship between sensory phenotypes and social impairment by two specific sensory-social paradigms targeting eye gaze avoidance and social touch anxiety, as well as the atypical neural representation of ASD during eye gaze and viewing social touch by fMRI and EEG.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Autism
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: no intervention

Detailed Description

Sensory disturbance of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are life-long highly-impairing challenges for the individual. Anxiety and fear around the sensory issues significantly threatens the psychological and mental health. As a newly introduced diagnostic criteria of ASD, sensory characteristics becomes a recent focus of ASD research. The ASD population is aging, how their sensory features naturally change with age is particular relevant for their adaptation. However, current literature are limited to childhood and young adults and mostly rely on behavioral report, lacking a clear whole picture of changing sensory phenotype in terms of different sensory modality and sensory domains. Besides, how sensory characteristics in ASD can be quantified by objective measures or explored by qualitative approach, how the sensory sensitivity contributes to the core social deficits in ASD such as eye gaze or social touch avoidance are unclear. This project plans to achieve the following aims:

1. Establish sensory phenotypes of a Taiwanese ASD cohort across lifespan, including variety of sensory modalities (i.e., visual, tactile, auditory, smell/taste, proprioception, etc.), sensory domains (i.e., low registration, sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity, and sensory avoiding), and clinical correlates.
2. Clarify the relationship between sensory phenotypes and social impairment by two specific sensory-social paradigms targeting eye gaze avoidance and social touch anxiety, which are hallmarks of ASD. Factors of emotion types as well as familiarity of faces or social/object touch will be manipulated to examine how they moderate eye tracking and pupil response.
3. Identify the atypical neural representation of ASD during eye gaze and viewing social touch by fMRI and EEG.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 480

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Yi Ling Chien; Phone Number: 66013 886-2-2312-3456; Email: ylchien@hotmail.com

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan
    • Recruiting
    • National Taiwan University Hospital
    • Contact: Yi Ling Chien, M.D., Ph.D.; Phone Number: 66013 886-2-2312-3456; Email: ylchien@hotmail.com

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Participants with autism spectrum disorder, recruited from National Taiwan University Hospital

Description

Aim#1

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder Aim#2 and #3

ASD group:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• Age above 12-40 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• No diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• Pregnant woman
• Metal implant in the body

TD group:

Inclusion Criteria:

• No diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• Age above 12-40 years old

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of major psychiatric disorders
• Pregnant woman
• Metal implant in the body

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

2

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
ASD Group; ASD participants, no intervention	Behavioral: no intervention; no intervention
TD Group; TD participants, no intervention	Behavioral: no intervention; no intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sensory Profile	It is a self-report scale covers 6 sensory modalities, including taste/smell, motion, visual, tactile, activity, and auditory sensation. The scoring method was based on 4-dimension structure, i.e. Low Registration, Sensation Seeking, Sensory Sensitivity, and Sensation Avoiding. Higher scores mean worse symptoms for each dimension compared to average healthy controls	2 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain activation through fMRI data	MRI scanning session consist of eye-avoidance paradign, social touch paradigm and anatomical scan. Regions of interest for eye avoidance paradigm included brain regions that have been shown to involve face-to-face social and emotional interaction. ROIs for social touch paradigm select the areas that are known to mediate the processing of visually presented social touch scenes.	2 years

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Taiwan University Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Yi Ling Chien, National Taiwan University Hospital

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 1, 2020
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): July 12, 2025
• Study Completion (Anticipated): July 12, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 4, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 12, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): April 25, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 25, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 12, 2023
• Last Verified: April 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Autistic Disorder; Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 201903126RINA

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No