Autism Spectrum Disorder and collective catering service: results of the pilot study FOOD-AUT

Objective

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit a low dietary diversity due to food selectivity that leads them to a marked preference for high-energy-density food, exposing them to risk of malnutrition. Despite these aspects, specific recommendations and targeted menus for this population are missing. The pilot study FOOD-AUT addresses this issue by developing canteen menus meeting the nutritional and sensory needs of adults with ASD, aiming to reduce their food selectivity, and consequently improving their health.

Methods

The project, funded by Gruppo Pellegrini S.p.A, was conducted at the daycare service of Sacra Famiglia Onlus Foundation, between March-2022 to March-2023. The study was divided into two phases. Observational phase: a comparison was made between the enrolled subjects' nutritional needs and the nutrient content of the administered menus during the daycare service. Then mealtime compliance was assessed using standardized meal evaluation forms, both quantitative and qualitative. Intervention phase: canteen menus targeted to the individuals' nutritional and sensory needs were administered and their acceptability was evaluated.

Results

Twenty-two individuals with ASD, aged 19-48, 72.7% males, were enrolled. Overweight and obesity prevalence were 54.5 and 18.2%, respectively. The observational phase showed how the most accepted foods had specific sensorial characteristics in line with the scientific literature. Adapting the menus improved food acceptance and reduced food waste.

Conclusion

The results highlighted the need for adapted menus and greater attention to the way meals are delivered and consumed to improve nutritional status and therefore health of this population at increased risk of malnutrition.

Clinical trial registration

ClinicalTrial.gov, unique identifier: NCT05978895.

Role of epigenetics in the clinical evolution of COVID-19 disease. Epigenome-wide association study identifies markers of severe outcome

BACKGROUND

COVID-19 has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations and given its impact on morbidity and mortality, there is an unmet medical need to discover endogenous cellular and molecular biomarkers that predict the expected clinical course of the disease. Recently, epigenetics and especially DNA methylation have been pointed out as a promising tool for outcome prediction in several diseases.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Using the Illumina Infinium Methylation EPIC BeadChip850K, we investigated genome-wide differences in DNA methylation in an Italian Cohort of patients with comorbidities and compared severe (n = 64) and mild (123) prognosis. Results showed that the epigenetic signature, already present at the time of Hospital admission, can significantly predict risk of severe outcomes. Further analyses provided evidence of an association between age acceleration and a severe prognosis after COVID-19 infection. The burden of Stochastic Epigenetic Mutation (SEMs) has been significantly increased in patients with poor prognosis. Results have been replicated in silico considering COVID-19 negative subjects and available previously published datasets.

CONCLUSIONS

Using original methylation data and taking advantage of already published datasets, we confirmed in the blood that epigenetics is actively involved in immune response after COVID-19 infection, allowing the identification of a specific signature able to discriminate the disease evolution. Furthermore, the study showed that epigenetic drift and age acceleration are associated with severe prognosis. All these findings prove that host epigenetics undergoes notable and specific rearrangements to respond to COVID-19 infection which can be used for a personalized, timely, and targeted management of COVID-19 patients during the first stages of hospitalization.

Prevalence of Psychopathological Features in Intellectual Diability: The Italian SPAID-G Multicentric Study

Introduction

Despite increasing awareness of high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability (ID), diagnostic tools are few and scarcely used in daily practice. SPAID-G (psychiatric instrument for the intellectually disabled adult-general version) is the first Italian for carrying out psychiatric diagnostic orientations in adults with ID. It was designed to be easy and quick instrument for daily clinical practice.

Objectives/Aims

The present study was aimed at evaluating psychometric and psychodiagnostic characteristics of the SPAID-G and at supplying new data on the prevalence rate of psychiatric disorders in a multicentric Italian sample of people with ID living in different settings.

Methods

The SPAID-G was consecutively administered to more than 800 persons with ID attending residential, rehabilitative or clinical services across Italy. A part of the sample was also assessed for psychopathology through the use of DASH-II, PDD-MRS and clinically diagnosed in accordance to DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 criteria.

Results

SPAID internal consistency, inter-rater reliability and concordance with DASH-II and PDD-MRS resulted to be good. Around 40% of the sample was assessed to have a cluster of psychopathological symptoms that could be consistent with a psychiatric diagnosis. Autism, impulse control disorder and personality disorder resulted to be the most frequent over threshold scores.

Conclusions

The SPAID-G seems to be a valid and cost-effective screening tool for the psychiatric assessment within the Italian population with ID.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.