ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2026
Are There Sex or Gender Differences in Autistic Characteristics? An Umbrella Systematic Review.
Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe aim of this umbrella systematic review was to synthesise evidence about sex/gender differences in autism across existing systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and scoping reviews.
methodsMEDLINE, Embase, Embase Classic, CINAHL, and APA PsycINFO were searched for peer-reviewed articles focused upon sex/gender differences in autistic children, adolescent, or adults, and published in English or Turkish.
resultsAnalysis of 34 studies showed no conclusive evidence of sex/gender differences in social communication, friendships, play behaviours and motor stereotypies in autistic children, adolescents, and adults. There was evidence that autistic females had fewer restricted and repetitive behaviours and were more capable in their use of camouflaging although autistic males also engaged in camouflaging. There was weak evidence to suggest that autistic male children have superior visuospatial skills, and evidence to indicate sex/gender differences in some aspects of brain development. Chronological age and general intellectual functioning appear to interact with some of these sex/gender differences.
conclusionThere was evidence that sex/gender differences amongst autistic people are similar to those seen amongst the general population and are not autism specific. More studies involving equal numbers of both autistic and non-autistic individuals of different sexes/genders are needed to draw more conclusive evidence.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42627437What OpenQuestion holds
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.