Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39962613›Full record

ArticleJournal of eating disorders2025

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) symptoms in gender diverse adults and their relation to autistic traits, ADHD traits, and sensory sensitivities.

Kai S Thomas, Jennifer Keating, Avalon A Ross, Kate Cooper, Catherine R G Jones

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Article in Journal of eating disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Kai S ThomasSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK. ThomasK30@cardiff.ac.uk.
Jennifer KeatingWales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Avalon A RossSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Kate CooperDepartment of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, England, UK.
Catherine R G JonesSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is emerging evidence to suggest gender diverse people are overrepresented in avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) samples. However, the mechanisms underlying elevated risk for ARFID in this group are currently unknown. Gender diversity and neurodivergence commonly co-occur, with elevated sensory sensitivities reported to be a shared experience common across autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and ARFID. We aimed to examine the unique contribution of sensory sensitivities, including hypo- and hyper-sensitivity, in predicting ARFID symptoms in gender diverse adults, whilst controlling for autistic and ADHD traits.

methodsGender diverse adults (N = 182; 142 assigned female at birth; M age = 28.6 years) in the UK participated in an online survey. We examined correlations between their self-reported ARFID symptoms, sensory sensitivities, autistic traits (not including sensory sensitivities), and ADHD traits whilst controlling for weight and shape concerns. We then used hierarchical multiple regression to investigate the unique contribution of sensory sensitivities to ARFID symptoms whilst controlling for the other neurodivergent traits.

resultsIn our gender diverse sample, higher levels of ARFID symptoms were associated with higher levels of sensory sensitivities, autistic traits, and ADHD traits, after controlling for weight and shape concerns. Furthermore, sensory sensitivities, specifically hyper-sensitivity, uniquely predicted levels of ARFID symptoms once we accounted for autistic and ADHD traits.

conclusionsWhen considering neurodivergence, sensory hyper-sensitivities may be particularly relevant to ARFID symptomatology in gender diverse adults. Future research should explore associations between ARFID presentations and sensory sensitivities in large samples of gender diverse adults, to enable separate analyses by gender identity.

Indexed as

ADHD traitsAutistic traitsAvoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)Gender diversitySensory sensitivityTransgender

Identifiers

PMID39962613
PMCPMC11834292

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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.