Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There is growing interest in the relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This review aimed to synthesise the most recent research on this topic to identify gaps in current knowledge, directions for future research and reflect on implications...

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Autores principales: Westwood, Heather, Tchanturia, Kate
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5443871/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28540593
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0791-9
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author Westwood, Heather
Tchanturia, Kate
author_facet Westwood, Heather
Tchanturia, Kate
author_sort Westwood, Heather
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There is growing interest in the relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This review aimed to synthesise the most recent research on this topic to identify gaps in current knowledge, directions for future research and reflect on implications for treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Eight studies assessing the presence of ASD in AN were identified in the literature along with three studies examining the impact of symptoms of ASD on treatment outcome. Research with young people and using parental-report measures suggest lower rates of co-morbidity than previous adult studies. CONCLUSIONS: The wide range of diagnostic tools, methodologies and populations studied make it difficult to determine the prevalence of ASD in AN. Despite this, studies consistently report over-representation of symptoms of ASD in AN. Co-morbid AN and ASD may require more intensive treatment or specifically tailored interventions. Future longitudinal research and female-specific diagnostic tools would help elucidate the relationship between these two disorders.
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spelling pubmed-54438712017-06-09 Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review Westwood, Heather Tchanturia, Kate Curr Psychiatry Rep Eating Disorders (S Wonderlich and JM Lavender, Section Editors) PURPOSE OF REVIEW: There is growing interest in the relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This review aimed to synthesise the most recent research on this topic to identify gaps in current knowledge, directions for future research and reflect on implications for treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: Eight studies assessing the presence of ASD in AN were identified in the literature along with three studies examining the impact of symptoms of ASD on treatment outcome. Research with young people and using parental-report measures suggest lower rates of co-morbidity than previous adult studies. CONCLUSIONS: The wide range of diagnostic tools, methodologies and populations studied make it difficult to determine the prevalence of ASD in AN. Despite this, studies consistently report over-representation of symptoms of ASD in AN. Co-morbid AN and ASD may require more intensive treatment or specifically tailored interventions. Future longitudinal research and female-specific diagnostic tools would help elucidate the relationship between these two disorders. Springer US 2017-05-24 2017 /pmc/articles/PMC5443871/ /pubmed/28540593 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0791-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Eating Disorders (S Wonderlich and JM Lavender, Section Editors)
Westwood, Heather
Tchanturia, Kate
Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review
title Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review
title_full Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review
title_fullStr Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review
title_full_unstemmed Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review
title_short Autism Spectrum Disorder in Anorexia Nervosa: An Updated Literature Review
title_sort autism spectrum disorder in anorexia nervosa: an updated literature review
topic Eating Disorders (S Wonderlich and JM Lavender, Section Editors)
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5443871/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28540593
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11920-017-0791-9
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