Asperger Syndrome: Medical History

Family history (medical history) is an important component in the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome (AS).

Family history

• Are there any inherited disorders in your family?

Social history

• What is your profession?
• Is there any evidence of psychosocial stress or strain due to your family situation?

Current anamnesis/systemic anamnesis (somatic and psychological complaints) [if necessary, including external anamnesis by a parent].

• What symptoms have you noticed?
• Do you have a contact disorder, show encapsulation, and/or have a fear of change?
• Was or is the development age-appropriate?
• When did you speak for the first time?
• What was the course of motor development?
• Did you show stereotypies as a child/currently?
• Are you irritable, distant, have ritualized routines?
• What hobbies do you have?
• Do you have friends / friendships?

Vegetative anamnesis including nutritional anamnesis.

• Did you drink alcohol during pregnancy?
• Do you use drugs? If yes, what drugs and how often per day or per week?

Self history incl. medication history.

• Pre-existing conditions (early childhood brain damage; rubella infection of the mother during pregnancy).
• Surgeries
• Vaccination status
• Allergies
• Pregnancies (course, complications)
• Developmental history
• Care and education situation from infancy to adolescence.
• Educational history

Medication history

• Antidepressants?
  • Ingestion in second and/or third trimester (third trimester of pregnancy); 87% increase over children without exposure.
  • A meta-analysis and two registry studies find no differences for autism in exposed and unexposed siblings after SSRI ingestion by pregnant women.
• Misoprostol – active ingredient used for gastric ulcers.
• Thalidomide – sedative / sleeping pill, which became known through the so-called thalidomide scandal.
• Valproic acid / valproate – active substance used in epilepsy.

Environmental history

• Air pollutants
  • Air pollution (diesel particulates, mercury, and lead, nickel, manganese and methylene chlorides).
  • Exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide during pregnancy and the first year of life.
• Prenatal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs)Note: Polychlorinated biphenyls are among the endocrine disruptors (synonym: xenohormones) that, even in minute amounts, can damage health by altering the endocrine system.

When autism is suspected, the following test psychological examinations can be helpful.

• Autism diagnostic interviews
• Language development test
• Intelligence tests