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Autonomic disequilibrium at rest in autistic children and adults
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Edité par CCSD -
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) symptoms have been proposed to be linked to Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) dysfunctions, in particular sympathetic hyper-arousal and parasympathetic under-activation. The objective of this study was to characterize these possible ANS dysfunctions at rest in children and adults. To characterize several aspects of autonomic functioning, we recorded simultaneously pupil diameter, heart rate and electrodermal activity during 5 minutes of rest in 44 children (6-12 years old, 22 autistic) and 42 adults (19-52 years old, 21 autistic). Several parameters allowed to characterize tonic and phasic indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic systems at rest. Autistic children exhibited the expected pattern of parasympathetic under-activation at rest compared to their typically developing (TD) peers, and with a tendency for a higher phasic sympathetic activity. Adults exhibited a reverse autonomic pattern, with ASD individuals showing higher sympathetic tonus and lower sympathetic phasic activity than their TD peers. In conclusion, we observed dysautonomia at rest both in autistic children and adults, but with opposite patterns that could reflect adaptive compensation mechanisms during maturation. The autonomic disequilibrium observed in autistic children would switch from excessive phasic components to excessive tonic components in adults, possibly subtended by an atypical locus coeruleus functioning.
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