Abstract
We examined a group of 77 autistic children (61 boys, 16 girls) of an average age 9.1 +/- 5.3 years. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), IQ test and 21 channel EEG (including night sleep EEG recording) were applied.
It was possible to obtain evaluable EEG records in 63 patients. Missing EEG records were mostly due to noncooperation on the part of the autistic children.
There were 29 normal EEGs (44.4%), 11 non-epileptiform abnormal EEGs (17.5%), and 24 abnormal EEGs with epileptiform discharges (38.1%). Using the median test, we compared the psychopathology in these three groups.
No significant difference in the total CARS score was found among the groups. In the analysis of CARS items, there was only one significant difference among the groups in the 10th item - Fear or Nervousness (chi(2) = 7.963, df = 2, p = 0.019).