Children with autistic traits ‘more likely’ to get eating disorders

Children with autistic traits are more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who do not have these traits, scientists have said.

The study shows children with austistic traits are more likely to develop eating disorders. Picture: Chris Radburn/PA Wire

Previous research has found that autism and eating disorders can occur together, but it is unclear whether these traits result from or appear before behavioural signs of eating disorders.

Researchers from University College London (UCL) said their new findings suggest autistic traits in childhood precede eating disorders and thus could be a risk factor for developing disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge-eating.

Dr Francesca Solmi, from UCL Psychiatry and lead author on the study, said: “We have found that young children with autistic traits at age seven are more likely than their peers to end up developing eating disorder symptoms in adolescence. Most other studies looked at snapshots in time, rather than tracking people over multiple years, so it wasn’t clear whether autism increases the risk of eating disorders or if symptoms of eating disorder could sometimes resemble autistic traits.”

The study involved 5,381 adolescents who have been participating in the Children of the 90s cohort study designed by the University of Bristol.

The researchers looked for autistic social traits at various ages, starting at seven and following at ages 11, 14 and 16.

These traits were reported by the mother using the checklist and were not a diagnosis of autism.

This means the findings would involve children who do not necessarily have autism, but would also include children with autism who might not have been diagnosed, the researchers said.

The researchers then considered whether the children showed behavioural characteristics of disordered eating, which includes fasting, purging, prolonged dieting, and binge-eating, at age 14.

They found children who displayed higher autistic traits at age seven were 24 per cent more likely to have weekly disordered eating behaviours at age 14. Results also showed eating disorders at age 14 did not appear to increase autistic traits by age 16.

Children with autism often have difficulties with social communication which, the researchers say, could contribute to higher rates of depression. They believe disordered eating might result from dysfunctional methods of coping with these emotional difficulties. Study co-author Dr William Mandy said: “The next step is to learn more about why those with autistic traits have a higher risk of developing an eating disorder so we can then design interventions to prevent eating disorders.”