Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26997535›Full record

ArticlePsychological medicine2016

Deficits in executive functions among youths with autism spectrum disorders: an age-stratified analysis.

S-F Chen, Y-L Chien, C-T Wu, C-Y Shang, Y-Y Wu, S S Gau

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Psychological medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
48citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
5.0field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

48 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 105 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Working memory of school-aged children on the autism spectrum: Predictors for longitudinal growth.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2023
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Language in autism: domains, profiles and co-occurring conditions.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2023
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

S-F ChenDepartment of Psychiatry,National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine,Taipei,Taiwan.
Y-L ChienDepartment of Psychiatry,National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine,Taipei,Taiwan.
C-T WuDepartment of Psychiatry,National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine,Taipei,Taiwan.
C-Y ShangDepartment of Psychiatry,National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine,Taipei,Taiwan.
Y-Y WuDepartment of Psychiatry,Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Linkou,Taoyuan,Taiwan.
S S GauDepartment of Psychiatry,National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine,Taipei,Taiwan.
National Taiwan University Hospital · TWNational Taiwan University · TWChang Gung Memorial Hospital · TW

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundImpaired executive function (EF) is suggested to be one of the core features in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); however, little is known about whether the extent of worse EF in ASD than typically developing (TD) controls is age-dependent. We used age-stratified analysis to reveal this issue.

methodWe assessed 111 youths with ASD (aged 12.5 ± 2.8 years, male 94.6%) and 114 age-, and sex-matched TD controls with Digit Span and four EF tasks of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): Spatial Span (SSP), Spatial Working Memory (SWM), Stockings of Cambridge (SOC), and Intradimensional/Extradimensional Shift Test (I/ED).

resultsCompared to TD controls, youths with ASD performed poorer on the Digit Span, SWM, SOC, and I/ED tasks. The performance of all the tasks improved with age for both groups. Age-stratified analyses were conducted due to significant age × group interactions in visuospatial planning (SOC) and set-shifting (I/ED) and showed that poorer performance on these two tasks in ASD than TD controls was found only in the child (aged 8-12 years) rather than the adolescent (aged 13-18 years) group. By contrast, youths with ASD had impaired working memory, regardless of age. The increased magnitude of group difference in visuospatial planning (SOC) with increased task demands differed between the two age groups but no age moderating effect on spatial working memory.

conclusionsOur findings support deficits in visuospatial working memory and planning in youths with ASD; however, worse performance in set-shifting may only be demonstrated in children with ASD.

Indexed as

Executive FunctionAdolescentAge FactorsAutism Spectrum DisorderCase-Control StudiesChildFemaleHumansMaleNeuropsychological TestsAge effectautism spectrum disordersexecutive functions

Identifiers

PMID26997535
PMCPMC4873936
OpenAlexW2302814483

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.