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INTRODUCTION: Temperament differences were shown in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, associations of temperament with ASD severity and accompanying psychiatric symptoms have yet to be studied. METHODS: We evaluated 58 ASD-diagnosed children’s temperaments through disorder severity and psychiatric symptoms and compared them with 58 typically developed children. We utilized the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire-Short Form, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was used to evaluate psychiatric symptoms and ASD severity levels of children. RESULTS: Negative affect, effortful control, and perceptual sensitivity were found lower in ASD-diagnosed children and decreased with ASD severity. Effortful control was also found negatively correlated with scores of behavioral problems, hyperactivity, and total difficulties. Besides, anger/frustration was found predictive for conduct and peer problems, and total difficulty scores. CONCLUSION: Further studies are needed to verify and expand these pioneer findings.

BACKGROUND Primary immunodeficiency disorder (PID), being a chronic disorder, may increase the prevalence of psychopathologies, but there are few studies on the effect of disease-related factors on psychopathology in this population. The aim of this study was therefore to assess and compare three groups: children with PID who receive i.v. immunoglobulin treatment; children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA); and healthy controls with respect to their mental health status. METHODS Forty-four children with PID, 32 children with JIA and 30 healthy controls, underwent psychiatric evaluation. The Childhood Depression Inventory and the screen for child anxiety-related emotional disorders questionnaire were completed by the participants. The child behavior checklist was completed by the mothers of the participants. In addition, disease-related factors were identified. RESULTS The frequency of mood disorders between the three groups differed. There was no difference between the PID and JIA groups with respect to the prevalence of mood disorders and other psychopathologies. The disease-related factors were associated with the frequency of mood disorder in PID patients. CONCLUSION The rate of psychopathology was similar in patients with PID and JIA and higher than the controls. Some of the disease-related factors were associated with the frequency of mood disorders in the PID patients.

Introduction Previous studies showed the association of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. We aimed to explore the OXTR gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the ASD severity categories based on DSM-5. Method The whole encoding regions of the human OXTR gene were sequenced to identify the SNPs in 100 Turkish children with ASD. Genotypes of detected SNPs were also compared with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) scores. Results Disease severity of the patients carrying GA and AA genotypes (GA/AA) of rs237902 were found more severe compared to those carrying GG genotype (χ2 = 6.456, df = 2, p = .040). This finding was more powerful in boys (χ2 = 9.288, df = 2, p = .010). Similarly, GA/AA genotypes of rs237902 were found associated with higher CARS scores in boys (U = 650.5, r = 0.24, p = .021). Conclusion Significant relationship between the ASD severity categories of DSM-5 and rs237902 was shown for the first time.