Autism symptoms in anorexia nervosa: a comparative study with females with autism spectrum disorder

Table 1 Mean (SD) demographic and clinical characteristics

	AN (n = 64)	REC (n = 46)	ASD (n = 41)	TD (n = 67)	Test statistics	p-value	Effect size
Age (years)	21.53 (4.15)	22.21 (3.47)	20.56 (8.42)	22.16 (3.60)	F(3,106.95) = 1.21	0.31	0.02
IQ	109.97 (9.97)	110.91 (10.39)	107.31 (10.89)	111.46 (8.42)	F(3,208) = 1.60	0.19	0.02
BMI^†	16.63 (2.60)^a	21.05 (3.11)^b	21.60 (5.27)^b	21.57 (1.70)^b	X²(3) = 127.12	< 0.001	0.58
%on psychiatric medication	50%^a	39%^a	30%^a	0%^b	X²(3) = 43.80	< 0.001	0.45
Age at AN diagnosis	16.80 (3.62)	15.56 (2.52)	–	–	t(102.89) = 2.08	0.04	0.40
EDE-Q^†	3.62 (2.60)^a	1.15 (1.71)^b	–	0.34 (0.83)^c	X²(2) = 82.71	< 0.001	0.47
Anxiety (Z score)	2.43 (1.42)^a	1.71 (1.71)^ab	1.40 (1.93)^b	0.00 (1.00)^c	F(3,91.87) = 44.50	< 0.001	0.31
Depression (Z score)	3.79 (2.74)^a	1.72 (2.01)^b	2.04 (2.15)^b	0.00 (1.00)^c	F(3,88.90) = 44.36	< 0.001	0.35

AN, anorexia nervosa; ASD, autism spectrum disorder; BMI, body mass index; EDE-Q, eating disorder examination questionnaire; IQ, intelligence quotient; REC, recovered anorexia nervosa; SD, standard deviation; TD, typically developing controls
Different superscripts indicate significant differences between groups, significant p-values (< .01) are highlighted in bold
^†Median and interquartile range (IQR)

ISSN: 2040-2392