Background: Dysfunction of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is one of the most frequent problems in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Objectives: To assess the propagation of GIT problems in autism spectrum disorder kids and its correlation with their behavioral problems. Patients and Methods: This case-control study included 50 children with ASD matched with 50 healthy kids with the same age and gender. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developed children, were interviewed to fill out the checklists about their behavior and GIT symptoms, then the collected data were tabulated and analyzed using SPSS version 26 software.
Results: All autism spectrum disorder group had significantly greater produce of the following symptoms: vomiting, constipation, soiling, reflux, and abdominal pain than typically developed group, with statistically significant differences. Also, autism spectrum disorder group had significantly longer duration of constipation, soiling, reflux, and abdominal pain than typically developed group. Medication used showed statistically significant difference among study groups as more than half autism spectrum disorder group used laxatives. Autism spectrum disorder had significantly greater mean values than typically developed group on the following CBCL scales: withdrawn, somatic complaints, anxious, social, thought, attention, aggressive behavior, internalizing problem, externalizing problem, and total problem, while delinquent behavior was significantly higher among typically developed than autism spectrum disorder group. Conclusions: Children with autism spectrum disorder are at greater risk of some behavioral and GIT problems which need a special care as compared to typical development (TD) children.