Investigating autism spectrum disorder and autistic traits in early onset eating disorder
- 13 February 2012
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in International Journal of Eating Disorders
- Vol. 45 (4), 583-591
- https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.20980
Abstract
Objective: To investigate whether young people (8–16 years) with an eating disorder have a higher prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASDs) and elevated autistic traits compared to typically developing (TD) peers. Method: Twenty‐two participants with early onset eating disorder (EOED) were assessed using standardized ASD measures and compared to IQ matched TD (n = 24) and ASD (n = 20) controls. Results: An ASD diagnosis was no more common in EOED than in TD controls. However, repetitive and stereotyped behavior was more often observed in the EOED group and, compared to TD controls, there was a trend (p = .07) toward greater autistic social impairment in EOED. Discussion: Whilst participants with EOED did not show increased ASD prevalence, they did have elevated autistic traits of clinical significance, particularly repetitive and stereotyped behavior. Further work is required to determine whether inflexibility and social difficulties in EOED have identical phenomenology and etiology to those seen in ASD. © 2012 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2012)This publication has 45 references indexed in Scilit:
- Classification of eating disturbance in children and adolescents: Proposed changes for the DSM‐VEuropean Eating Disorders Review, 2010
- Developmental trajectories of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests in children with autism spectrum disordersDevelopment and Psychopathology, 2010
- Altered social reward and attention in anorexia nervosaFrontiers in Psychology, 2010
- Emotional Theory of Mind and Emotional Awareness in Recovered Anorexia Nervosa PatientsPsychosomatic Medicine, 2009
- The construction and validation of a short form of the developmental, diagnostic and dimensional interviewEuropean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2009
- Perfectionism dimensions in children and adolescents with anorexia nervosaJournal of Adolescent Health, 2004
- Fine Mapping of Autistic Disorder to Chromosome 15q11-q13 by Use of Phenotypic SubtypesAmerican Journal of Human Genetics, 2003
- The outcome of adolescent eating disordersEuropean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2003
- Outcome of teenage-onset anorexia nervosa in a Swedish community-based sampleEuropean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2003
- Gaze and eye-contact with anorexic adolescentsPsychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 1989