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The profile of autistic traits in patients with psychotic disorders
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 August 2025
Abstract
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Introduction
Autistic traits are typical, but not pathognomonic for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and they can also be observed in individuals with psychotic disorders (PD). The Adult Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) serves as a screening test for autism, assessing five categories of autistic traits (AT). Previous research has shown that both ASD and PD have significantly higher AQ scores compared to healthy population (1).
Objectives
To evaluate the profile of AT in patients with PD compared to healthy controls (HC), as well as to compare the profiles of AT between individuals with schizophrenia and those with unspecified psychotic disorder.
Methods
This cross-sectional study included 38 individuals with PD and 80 HC. The instruments used in the research included: AQ50, Social Adaptation Self-Evaluation Scale – SASS, and Sheehan Disability Scale.
Results
Sociodemopraphics are shown in table 1. The PD group had significantly higher scores than the HC for the overall AQ score and its sub-scores, except for attention to detail (ATD) (Graph 1). In the whole sample, there was a significant negative correlation between AQ scores and social functioning (Pearson Correlation .331, p=0,000). There were no differences between patients with schizophrenia and unspecified psychotic disorder regarding AQ score (p=0,466), while patients with schizophrenia showed significantly lower social and overall functioning (SASS total p=019; Sheehan total p=0,001).Table 1
| PD (n=38) | HC (n=80) | Test | P | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex (male) | 22 (58,9%) | 34 (41,4%) | X2=3.25 | 0,086 |
| Age (years) | 41,8 ± 12,8 | 34,3 ± 11,7 | t=-3,22 | 0,06 |
| Treatment duration | 16,7 ± 9,9 | |||
| ICD-10 diagnosis | ||||
| F20 | 22 (56,4%) | - | ||
| F29 | 17 (43,6%) | - | ||
| SASS total | 40,5 ± 7,4 | 44,7 ± 5,9 | t=3,4 | 0,02 |
| Sheehan total | 13,3 ± 8,5 | |||
Graph 1 legend
AQSS – AQ social skills; AQAS – AQ attention switching; AQATD – AQ attention to detail; AQCOM – AQ communication; AQIMAG – AQ imagination
Image 1:
Conclusions
Recognizing autistic symptoms in individuals with PD can be important for their social functioning, as well as for establishing an individualized approach to treatment, both pharmacological and non-pharmacological. It appears that AT impact social functionning differently in HC vs PD group. Further studies on correlation of AT with clinical outcomes in PD are warranted.
References
De Crescenzo F, Postorino V, Siracusano M, Riccioni A, Armando M, Curatolo P, Mazzone L. Autistic Symptoms in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Front Psychiatry 2019;10:78.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared
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- European Psychiatry , Volume 68 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 33rd European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2025 , pp. S433
- Creative Commons
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
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