Children with autistic traits are more likely than their peers to develop an eating disorder, according to a new study.

Previous research has found that autism and eating disorders can occur together, as 20-30% of adults with eating disorders have autism, and 3-10% of children and young people with eating disorders.

However, it has not been clear whether autistic traits result from eating disorders or precede them. This new longitudinal study, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, finds that autistic traits in childhood come before behaviours characteristic of eating disorders, and so could be a risk factor for developing eating disorders.

Lead author Dr Francesca Solmi (UCL Psychiatry) 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 longitudinal research from birth as part of the University of Bristol’s Children of the 90s cohort study. The researchers considered whether they had autistic social traits at age 7, 11, 14 and 16, and disordered eating (fasting, purging, prolonged dieting, or binge-eating) at age 14.

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