Early psychological intervention model based on sensory integration and parental empowerment for dietary abnormalities in children with autism

Table 1 Comparison of baseline data between the two groups, mean ± SD/n (%)

	Intervention group (n = 72)	Control group (n = 70)	χ2/t	P value
Gender (male/female)	48/24	46/24	0.014	0.905
Age (years)	4.25 ± 1.08	4.32 ± 1.15	0.374	0.709
Course of the disease (months)	18.62 ± 5.37	19.15 ± 5.62	0.575	0.566
Severity of autism			0.119	0.942
Mild	28 (38.89)	26 (37.14)
Moderate	36 (50.00)	35 (50.00)
Severe	8 (11.11)	9 (12.86)
Abnormal types of eating behavior
Food refusal	42 (58.33)	40 (57.14)	0.021	0.886
Selective eating	51 (70.83)	49 (70.00)	0.012	0.913
Bradyphagia	38 (52.78)	36 (51.43)	0.026	0.872
Emotional eating	32 (44.44)	30 (42.86)	0.036	0.849
Educational level of parents			0.019	0.990
Junior high school and below	18 (25.00)	17 (24.29)
Senior high school/secondary specialized school	27 (37.50)	26 (37.14)
College degree or above	27 (37.50)	27 (38.57)