TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder and autistic traits in children with anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder
AU - Inoue, Takeshi
AU - Otani, Ryoko
AU - Iguchi, Toshiyuki
AU - Ishii, Ryuta
AU - Uchida, Soh
AU - Okada, Ayumi
AU - Kitayama, Shinji
AU - Koyanagi, Kenshi
AU - Suzuki, Yuki
AU - Suzuki, Yuichi
AU - Sumi, Yoshino
AU - Takamiya, Shizuo
AU - Tsurumaru, Yasuko
AU - Nagamitsu, Shinichiro
AU - Fukai, Yoshimitsu
AU - Fujii, Chikako
AU - Matsuoka, Michiko
AU - Iwanami, Junpei
AU - Wakabayashi, Akio
AU - Sakuta, Ryoichi
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding was provided by grants from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (#H28Sukoyaka-001 and H29Sukoyaka-005 #29040501).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and feeding and eating disorders (FEDs) such as anorexia nervosa (AN) are strongly linked as evidenced by frequent comorbidity and overlapping traits. However, eating and social behaviors are shaped by culture, so it is critical to examine these associations in different populations. Moreover, FEDs are heterogeneous, and there has been no examination of autistic traits in avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Methods: Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of ASD and autistic traits among Japanese children with AN (n = 92) or ARFID (n = 32) from a prospective multicenter cohort study using the Autism Spectrum Quotient Children’s version (AQC) and Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT26). Results: ASD prevalence was high in both AN and ARFID (16.3 and 12.5%, respectively). The AN group exhibited significantly higher scores on all AQC subscales than an age-matched healthy control (HC) group, but there were no significant correlations between AQC scores and ChEAT26 scores. In the AFRID group, AQC scores did not differ from HCs, but significant correlations were found between total AQC and ChEAT26 scores and between several AQC and ChEAT26 subscales. Conclusions: Both the AN and ARFID groups had high prevalence rates of ASD. The AN group showed a significantly higher degree of autistic traits than the HC group; however, no difference was found between the ARFID and HC groups. Clinicians need to be aware of these rates when working with children with ED.
AB - Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and feeding and eating disorders (FEDs) such as anorexia nervosa (AN) are strongly linked as evidenced by frequent comorbidity and overlapping traits. However, eating and social behaviors are shaped by culture, so it is critical to examine these associations in different populations. Moreover, FEDs are heterogeneous, and there has been no examination of autistic traits in avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Methods: Therefore, we investigated the prevalence of ASD and autistic traits among Japanese children with AN (n = 92) or ARFID (n = 32) from a prospective multicenter cohort study using the Autism Spectrum Quotient Children’s version (AQC) and Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT26). Results: ASD prevalence was high in both AN and ARFID (16.3 and 12.5%, respectively). The AN group exhibited significantly higher scores on all AQC subscales than an age-matched healthy control (HC) group, but there were no significant correlations between AQC scores and ChEAT26 scores. In the AFRID group, AQC scores did not differ from HCs, but significant correlations were found between total AQC and ChEAT26 scores and between several AQC and ChEAT26 subscales. Conclusions: Both the AN and ARFID groups had high prevalence rates of ASD. The AN group showed a significantly higher degree of autistic traits than the HC group; however, no difference was found between the ARFID and HC groups. Clinicians need to be aware of these rates when working with children with ED.
KW - Anorexia
KW - Autism
KW - Comorbidity
KW - Feed and eating disorders
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U2 - 10.1186/s13030-021-00212-3
DO - 10.1186/s13030-021-00212-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106343429
VL - 15
JO - BioPsychoSocial Medicine
JF - BioPsychoSocial Medicine
SN - 1751-0759
IS - 1
M1 - 9
ER -