Study Urges Physicians to Listen to Parents About GI Problems in Children with Autism

A researcher at the Keck School of Medicine of USC has published a study highlighting the importance of physicians listening to parental reports of gastrointestinal (GI) problems in their autistic children and screening these children for gastrointestinal dysfunction (GID). Pat Levitt, director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School, served as principal investigator of the study, which was published on Jan. 9 on the website of Autism Research.
Pat Levitt, director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute
“This research shows that physicians should take parents seriously when they report GI problems,” said Levitt, who was joined in the study by first author Philip Gorrindo, a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Doctors should be especially diligent in checking children who have major language problems and who have not been identified previously with GID because there’s a higher likelihood that they could have GI problems, and these children may be less able to report their physical distress.”