The pattern of pervasive developmental disorders in Iraqi children

Little is known about the pattern of pervasive developmental disorders in Iraq. This is a retrospective clinical study aiming at describing the pattern of pervasive developmental disorders in Iraqi children observed at the pediatric psychiatry clinic in a tertiary pediatric referral center. During nine months period (18 November 2018 to 18 July 2019), fifty one patients with pervasive developmental disorders (30 males and 21 females) were observed at the psychiatry clinic at the Children Teaching Hospital of Baghdad Medical City. In this series, typical autism without significant mental retardation accounted for 65%. Atypical autism (Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise) was the second most common type of Pervasive developmental disorders accounting for about 23%. Asperger syndrome accounted for only 6% of the cases in this series.