Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40779266›Full record

ArticleJAMA network open2025

Sex-Related Measurement Bias in Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms in the Baby Siblings Research Consortium.

Catherine A Burrows, Sooyeon Sung, Shuting Zheng, Greg S Young, Tony Charman, Cheryl Klaiman, Ami Klin, Natasha Marrus, Sally Ozonoff, Joseph Piven and 19 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in JAMA network open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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

29 authors.

Catherine A BurrowsDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Sooyeon SungGraduate School of Education, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
Shuting ZhengDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin.
Greg S YoungDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis.
Tony CharmanDepartment of Psychology, King's College London, London, UK, on behalf of the BASIS Network.
Cheryl KlaimanMarcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Ami KlinMarcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Natasha MarrusDepartment of Psychiatry, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri.
Sally OzonoffDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis.
Joseph PivenDepartment of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, on behalf of the IBIS network.
Diana L RobinsA. J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rebecca J SchmidtSchool of Medicine, Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis.
A J SchwichtenbergDepartment of Human Development and Family Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Sara Jane WebbDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle.
Lonnie ZwaigenbaumDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Leslie J CarverDepartment of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego.
Katarzyna ChawarskaDepartment of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego.
Suzanne CurtinDepartment of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Shafali S JesteDepartments of Neurology and Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
Jana M IversonDepartment of Physical Therapy, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Rebecca J LandaCenter for Autism Services, Science and Innovation, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Daniel S MessingerDepartment of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, Florida.
Jane E RobertsDepartment of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia.
Wendy L StoneDepartment of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle.
Helen Tager-FlusbergDepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Amy N EslerDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Meghan MillerDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis.
Somer L BishopDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco.
Jed T ElisonDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

Funding

Cellular and molecular mechanisms governing cortical surface area overgrowth in iPSC-derived neural cells from longitudinally characterized individuals with autismR01HD055741 · NICHD · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI Joseph Piven · 2007 to 2026
$52.6M
BUILDS MARBLES: Biorepository Upkeep and Infrastructure for Longitudinal Data Sharing for MARBLESR24ES028533 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI Brittany D. Chambers Butcher, Rebecca Jean Schmidt · 2017 to 2026
$2.3M
BUILDS MARBLES: Biorepository Upkeep and Infrastructure for Longitudinal Data Sharing for MARBLESU24ES028533 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI CHAMBERS BUTCHER, BRITTANY D., SCHMIDT, REBECCA JEAN · 2023 to 2025
$1.2M
NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD055741NIEHS NIH HHS R24 ES028533NIEHS NIH HHS U24 ES028533
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Importance: Disparities exist in age of diagnosis and prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for female compared with male children. Correcting for sources of bias is critical for improving equitable ASD identification. Objective: To determine whether sex differences exist in measurement of ASD symptoms using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) among young children at high familial likelihood (HFL) and low familial likelihood (LFL) of ASD. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study collected longitudinal, prospective data from the Baby Siblings Research Consortium between January 1, 2003, and December 31, 2021. Participants included 3106 children who had an older sibling with ASD (HFL group) and 1444 without (LFL group). Data from as many as 3 visits when participants were aged 20 to 40 months were included. Analysis occurred between March 1, 2023, and May 29, 2025. Exposures: Child sex and age and ASD diagnosis. Main Outcomes and Measures: Measurement invariance by sex and age was examined across item-level ADOS data. Diagnostic group and sex differences were then examined using mixed-effect models on corrected scores. Results: Repeated visits (n = 7557) from 4550 participants (2548 [56.0%] male) were included, of whom 1444 (31.7%) were in the LFL and 3016 (68.3%) in the HFL groups. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviors models fit the data well in the HFL group but poorly in the LFL group. In the HFL group, females were rated as less impaired in eye contact (differential item functioning estimate [SE] = 0.088 [0.033]; P = .01), and their response to joint attention (differential item functioning estimate [SE] = 0.290 [0.105]; P = .01) and quality of social overtures (differential item functioning estimate [SE] = 0.053 [0.019]; P = .005) was associated with less underlying social communication difficulties compared with males. Adjusting for differential item functioning by age and sex resulted in moderate levels of measurement differences. Females showed milder autistic traits than males, although this gap was smaller in the participants diagnosed with ASD. Conclusions and Relevance: Sex differences exist in the general population in many social communication traits, yet ASD diagnostic thresholds do not account for these sex differences. Future instrument development, as well as clinician training, should acknowledge milder presentation (fewer difficulties with eye contact or quality of social impairments) in many females. This may help identify developmental differences earlier and improve outcomes for autistic females (estimate [SE] = -0.160 [0.061]; P = .009).

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderSiblingsChild, PreschoolFemaleHumansInfantLongitudinal StudiesMaleProspective StudiesSex Factors

Identifiers

PMID40779266
PMCPMC12334962

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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.