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Children with autism spectrum disorder are prescribed various medications to address behavior and mood. In clinical trials, individuals taking concomitant psychotropic medications often are excluded to maintain homogeneity and prevent contamination of clinical endpoints. However, this choice may compromise the representativeness of the sample. In a recent study designed to identify biomarkers and endpoints for clinical trials (the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials), school-age children with autism spectrum disorder were enrolled without excluding for medications, providing the opportunity to examine characteristics of psychotropic medication use and guide future decisions on medication-related inclusion criteria. The aims of the current analysis were (1) to quantify the frequency and type of psychotropic medications reported in school-age children enrolled in the study and (2) to examine behavioral features of children with autism spectrum disorder based on medication classes. Of the 280 children with autism spectrum disorder in the cohort, 42.5% were taking psychotropic medications, with polypharmacy in half. The most commonly reported psychotropic medications included melatonin, stimulants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, alpha agonists, and antipsychotics. Our findings suggest that exclusion of children taking concomitant psychotropic medications could limit the representativeness of the study population, perhaps even excluding children who may most benefit from new treatment options. Children with autism spectrum disorder are prescribed a variety of medications that affect the central nervous system (psychotropic medications) to address behavior and mood. In clinical trials, individuals taking concomitant psychotropic medications often are excluded to maintain homogeneity of the sample and prevent contamination of biomarkers or clinical endpoints. However, this choice may significantly diminish the clinical representativeness of the sample. In a recent multisite study designed to identify biomarkers and behavioral endpoints for clinical trials (the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials), school-age children with autism spectrum disorder were enrolled without excluding for medications, thus providing a unique opportunity to examine characteristics of psychotropic medication use in a research cohort and to guide future decisions on medication-related inclusion criteria. The aims of the current analysis were (1) to quantify the frequency and type of psychotropic medications reported in school-age children enrolled in the ABC-CT and (2) to examine behavioral features of children with autism spectrum disorder based on medication classes. Of the 280 children with autism spectrum disorder in the cohort, 42.5% were taking psychotropic medications, with polypharmacy in half of these children. The most commonly reported psychotropic medications included melatonin, stimulants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, alpha agonists, and antipsychotics. Descriptive analysis showed that children taking antipsychotics displayed a trend toward greater overall impairment. Our findings suggest that exclusion of children taking concomitant psychotropic medications in trials could limit the clinical representativeness of the study population, perhaps even excluding children who may most benefit from new treatment options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents' natural language when describing health-related threats reflects parents' cognitions that may shape their transmission of anxiety and fear. Parents' greater communal focus (i.e., higher we-talk) and less self-focus (i.e., lower I-talk) may buffer against intergenerational fear/anxiety transmission. The current study investigated whether the relation between parents' and children's anxiety and pandemic-related fear differed by parent we- and I-talk. Parents of 114 children (2–19 years; M = 9.75, SD = 3.73) completed online measures assessing children's and parents' anxiety and COVID-19-related fears, and engaged in a written reflection on their early pandemic experiences. The proportion of parents' we-talk and I-talk during the reflection was obtained using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count software. Results of multilevel structural equation models were partially consistent with expectations: The protective effect of we-talk was only observed for parents with lower fear/anxiety. For parents with higher fear/anxiety, higher I-talk was associated with lower child fear/anxiety. At higher levels of parent we-talk and at lower levels of I-talk, there was an unexpectedly positive association between parents' and children's fear/anxiety. The concordance between parents' and their children's fear/anxiety differs depending on parents' natural language when reflecting on the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]