A Way With Words: Do Clinicians Talk Differently When Assessing Autism in Boys vs Girls? - 20/10/25
Résumé |
Autism is a complex, heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition that affects 1 in 31 children,1 and is characterized by social communication challenges and the presence of restricted and/or repetitive patterns of behaviors and interests.2 Autism is diagnosed at a significantly lower rate and at later ages in autistic female individuals than in autistic male individuals.3 These sex-based diagnostic discrepancies may be due, in part, to a poor understanding of how autism presents in female individuals,4 underrecognition of autistic traits that have an impact on female individuals’ likelihood of being referred for an autism evaluation, and a paucity of diagnostic tools that are sensitive to sex-specific behavioral presentations.5 Notably, gold-standard diagnostic tools were developed on disproportionately male samples, leading to concerns that autistic in female individuals could be underdiagnosed when using these measures.6
Le texte complet de cet article est disponible en PDF.Plan
| This study was supported by R01DC018289 (PI: Julia Parish-Morris) and a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute Director’s Award to Julia Parish-Morris. |
|
| The Institutional Review Board of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia provided approval and oversight for this study. All participants provided consent (parental consent for participants under age 18) and assent when possible. |
|
| Data Sharing: The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to privacy concerns for minors with disabilities. |
|
| The authors thank the children and families who participated in this research, as well as students, interns, volunteers, postdocs, clinicians, and administrative staff at the Center for Autism Research. |
|
| Disclosure: Julia Parish-Morris and Meredith Cola have reported no biomedical financial interests or any potential conflicts of interest. |
|
| All statements expressed in this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. See the Guide for Authors for information about the preparation and submission of Letters to the Editor. |
Bienvenue sur EM-consulte, la référence des professionnels de santé.
L’accès au texte intégral de cet article nécessite un abonnement.
Déjà abonné à cette revue ?