Co-occurrence of autism spectrum disorder and very early onset schizophrenia: A case report

Abstract

Very early onset schizophrenia (VEOS) is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric disorder and has received too little attention in the medical literature. Previous studies have suggested that VEOS had a tendency of a worse prognosis and outcome than adult onset schizophrenia. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a life-long impairing heterogeneous disorder, characterized by severe and pervasive impairments in multiple areas of psychological development. Co-occurrence of ASD and VEOS is reported very rarely in the literature. This paper reports on a case diagnosed as ASD with a VEOS comorbidity. With this case report, it is aimed to review the differential diagnosis, common and different clinical features, neuroimaging findings and genetic and environmental etiologies of these two psychopathologies in the light of the literature.