Reprinted from the German Journal of Psychiatry · http://www.gjpsy.uni-goettingen.de · ISSN 1433-1055 Pervasive Developmental Disorders and its Subtypes: Sociodemographic and Clinical Profile Savita Malhotra, Subho Chakrabarti, Nitin Gupta, Parmod Kumar and Sapna Gill Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh Corresponding author: Dr. Savita Malhotra, Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh-160 012, India; E-mail: savitam@sancharnet.in Abstract Objective : To study the clinical profile of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) presenting to tertiary care referral center. Method : Chart-review methodology over a 10-year-period; descriptive analysis. Results : 46 cases of PDD were identified. Majority were of typical autism (TA, n=22) and childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD, n=12) with rest combined (i.e. other PDD) being 12. On comparison the three groups differed on so- cioeconomic status, age at presentation, age and type of onset, delay/regression in milestones and IQ. Clinical features were broadly comparable. Conclusions : Results support the clinical validity of various types of PDD, give credence to subtyping of PDD as in current classificatory systems, and generate a database on PDD from India (German J Psychiatry 2003; 6: 33-39). Keywords: Pervasive developmental disorders, clinical profile, autism Received:14.12.2002; revised version 16.6.2003 Published: 10.7.2003 Acknowledgements: This work was part of the study ‘Clinical and follow-up study of pervasive developmental disor- ders’ carried out under the PGI funded Research Scheme Introduction ervasive developmental disorders (PDD) are a group of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by specific delays and deviance in social interactions and patterns of communication, together with a restricted stereotyped repertoire of interests and activities. These qualitative ab- normalities are a pervasive feature of the individual’s func- tioning in all situations, although they may vary in degree. It is usual, but not invariable, that some degree of general cog- nitive impairment exists with these (AACAPAP, 1999). Onset is typically in the first few years of life. Apart from the characteristics deficits these children have a number of other non-specific symptoms such as fears/phobias, sleeping and eating disturbances, hyperactivity, temper tantrums, aggres- sion etc. An increased rate of perinatal complications and family history of similar problems is often noted. These conditions are often associated with physical disorders, which affect the brain such as infections, metabolic disorders or epilepsy (Gillberg & Forsell, 1984; Gillberg & Steffen- burg, 1987; Bryson et al, 1988; Cialdella & Mamelle, 1989). Recent revisions of official classifications such as the ICD- 10 (WHO, 1992; APA, 1994) had led to a convergence of definitions and refinement of the concept of PDD. Subtypes of this category now include childhood autism, atypical au- tism, childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD), overactive disorder, Rett’s and Asperger’s syndrome and residual cate- gory of unspecified PDD (PDD-NOS). Epidemiological surveys in the West have estimated the prevalence of PDD to be around 2 per thousand children. PDD-NOS seems to be the commonest subtype followed by autism. Other subtypes are relatively rare (Wing & Gould, 1979; Gillberg, 1986; Fombonne, 1998). A significant excess of boys and social class distribution similar to normal population has been reported for autism (Cialdella & Mamelle, 1989; Wing & Gould, 1979; Steffen- burg & Gillberg, 1986; Steinhausen et al, 1986). Socio- demographic correlates of other disorders are less well inves- tigated. P