ArticleJournal of neurology2025
Co-occurring functional neurological disorder and autism: an exploratory study of comorbidities in a retrospective cohort study using TriNetX.
Article in Journal of neurology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Unmet needs in functional neurological disorder related to digital healthcare.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2026Review
- Identifying diagnostic biomarkers in functional motor disorders through multimodal behavioral, neurophysiological, and imaging assessment using explainable machine learning.Journal of neurology · 2026Observational
- Clinical features of adolescent-onset functional motor disorders in tertiary movement disorders centers.Journal of neurology · 2026Observational
- Exploring the autism and functional neurological disorder association: Considerations from biopsychosocial, neuropsychological and computational models.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Review
- Perinatal, neurodevelopmental and childhood health factors in patients with functional neurological disorder: a retrospective case-record study in a tertiary neuropsychiatry cohort.BMJ neurology open · 2026Article
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with a higher risk of erectile dysfunction than alcoholic fatty liver disease.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFunctional Neurological Disorder (FND) encompasses motor, cognitive, and sensory symptoms resulting from disruptions in brain-body communication. Emerging research suggests a higher-than-expected occurrence of autism in FND, potentially due to shared cognitive mechanisms and overlapping comorbidities. However, large-scale characterisation of this dual-diagnosis is lacking.
methodsUsing de-identified health records from the TriNetX research network, we identified children and adults with both FND and autism ('FND + Autism'), comparing them to individuals with FND only ('FND-only') and autism only ('Autism-only'). We examined psychiatric comorbidities (e.g. mood, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder), intellectual disability and ADHD.
resultsOf 220,312 individuals with an FND diagnosis, and 674,971 individuals with an autism diagnosis, 5,152 (2.3% of FND, 0.76% of autism) had both FND and autism. The rates of autism were therefore 6 times higher in FND compared to the base rates of the TriNetX population. Most were diagnosed with autism before FND, with over one-third diagnosed in childhood. Functional seizures were the most common FND subtype, and were more frequent in FND + Autism than FND-only (adults: 52% vs. 44%; children: 47% vs. 42%). Comorbidity across all psychiatric conditions was significantly higher in FND + Autism compared to both comparison groups. ADHD was particularly elevated in FND + Autism (adults: 50% vs. 13% FND-only, 36% Autism-only; children: 64% vs. 21% FND-only, 41% Autism-only).
conclusionsThis study presents the largest dataset to date characterising individuals with co-occurring FND and autism. Findings are consistent with previous findings of higher rates of autism in people with FND and reveal a potentially distinct clinical profile, marked by elevated rates of ADHD and psychiatric comorbidities, and increased occurrence of functional seizures compared to FND- or Autism-only groups. Recognising this overlap may improve diagnosis, clinical care, and understanding of mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of FND and autism.
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