ArticleAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2023
Why do we need sex-balanced studies of autism?
Article in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of physical activity on motor, communication, social, and executive function in children with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Common and distinct cortical thickness alterations in youth with autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Sex differences in 5-year incidence and prevalence of physical illnesses following early childhood autism diagnosis.JCPP advances · 2026Article
- Cerebellar pathway diffusion MRI measures are linked to core autism symptoms in early adolescents aged 9 to 11 years.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Autism Mentorship Program.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Community views on the assessment and diagnosis of autism: Principles to guide clinical practice.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- A multi-method phenotypic study of sex differences in pragmatic language in autism.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Gender differences in autism prevalence: origins of bias and its current scientific relevance.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Sex-specific perturbations of neuronal development caused by mutations in the autism risk gene DDX3X.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Sexual Affectivity in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Bibliometric Profile of Scientific Production.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Region-Specific Brain Volume Changes Emerge in Adolescence in the Valproic Acid Model of Autism and Parallel Human Findings.Developmental neuroscience · 2025Article
- Emerging X-linked genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in females.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Mapping neural correlates of biological motion perception in autistic children using high-density diffuse optical tomography.Molecular autism · 2024Article
- Lessons Learned from Drug Development Programs in Autism: Implications for Future Programs.Innovations in clinical neuroscienceReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Males are diagnosed with autism much more frequently than females, and most research study samples reflect this male predominance. The result is that autistic females are understudied. There is a critical need to increase our understanding of autistic females, both biologically and clinically. The only way to do this is to recruit sex-balanced cohorts in studies so that similarities and differences between males and females can be evaluated in all autism research studies. The purpose of this commentary is to (1) provide historical context about how females came to be under-represented in all research, not just in the field of autism and (2) learn from other areas of health and medicine about the potentially dire consequences of not studying both sexes, and (3) draw attention to the need to recruit sex-balanced cohorts in autism research, particularly in neuroimaging studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.