Symptoms of children with autism before and after Quaid-19 disease quarantine: A comparative study

Coronavirus (Covid-19) has caused changes in the social life of people around the world. These changes include disruption of daily habits and access to public communities and health and education services. The purpose of this article is to investigate the symptoms of children with autism, before and after Quarantine-19 quarantine.

The present study is a prospective comparative causal study aimed at investigating the effects of quarantine and withdrawal from society on the severity of symptoms of the disorder in children with autism. The statistical population was all children aged 6 to 13 years with autism in Tehran. For this purpose, 30 of these children, who were selected as the available sample, were tested with the Gilliam (Garz) Autism Diagnostic Test. This test was performed on the eve of the unforeseen general quarantine of Covid-19 in early March 2017. After the end of the quarantine period, the test was answered again by the parents of these children. The obtained data were analyzed using the statistical analytical method of multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures using SPSS software version 25.

The results showed a significant difference in the severity of symptoms of children with autism before and after quarantine (P≥0.001).

It seems that the reduction of social relations, withdrawal from society and lack of access to education and rehabilitation services for children with autism can be significantly related to increasing the symptoms of the disorder in these children.