A longitudinal evaluation of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder, 2025, Wu Nordahl et al

rvallee

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
A longitudinal evaluation of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder

Gastrointestinal symptoms are frequently reported in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. This study sought to determine the longitudinal trajectory of gastrointestinal symptoms without a medical etiology in children with autism compared to similar aged participants with typical development.

A total of 475 children enrolled in this longitudinal study (322 autism spectrum disorder and 153 typical development groups) were evaluated at up to three time points between 2 and 12 years of age. Nine common gastrointestinal symptoms and formal medical gastrointestinal diagnosis were assessed using a physician-administered parent interview.

A rigorous symptom classification was performed by physicians via clinical consensus. The frequency and persistence of gastrointestinal symptoms across childhood were compared between groups. Associations between gastrointestinal symptoms and measures of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, sleep problems, sensory problems, restricted and repetitive behaviors, and social communication were also evaluated.

Children with autism presented with more gastrointestinal symptoms at each time point, and they were also more likely to experience multiple and persistent gastrointestinal symptoms. The presence and number of gastrointestinal symptoms were associated with greater impairment in internalizing behaviors, sleep, communication, sensory processing, and repetitive behaviors.

Participants in the autism spectrum disorder group reported more gastrointestinal symptoms without known etiology throughout childhood in this longitudinal well-characterized sample.
 
This study was posted on the science sub-reddit, and obviously anecdotal, though not surprising, is filled with comments from people with autism describing how they had this all their lives and it was always dismissed as "anxiety" or something like it. Nothing surprising to us here. This is something our biopsychosocial overlords have long worked at, attributing it to all sorts of weird thoughts and beliefs and so on.

The harm that psychosomatic ideology has caused truly makes it an extremist ideology. Like a nuclear blast in a large city. Or more like some neutron bomb, because if a large city were destroyed, property and industry, it would get 1,000x the reaction from just killing without destroying. Property matters so much more than lives in our societies.

Although I wouldn't put that much credence into "rigorous symptom classification was performed by physicians via clinical consensus", the important part really is "gastrointestinal symptoms without known etiology". This is the crux of the issue when it comes to psychosomatic ideology and the nightmare they created for us. This is what ruins everything for everyone. Even them, ironically. I guess the bastards just don't want us to get better.
 
I’m not sure this study on 4-500 people can tell us much about the prevalence of GIS in ASD.

As someone that has had GI issues for a long time before ME/CFS, I’m not surprised that it’s correlated with a higher symptom burden in general. Although that would probably be true for any symptom - they have a tendency to make things worse.

The authors appear to focus on GIS making ADS symptoms worse, and not the other way around. But they don’t go into any details about why they believe that some of the GIS could be treatable.
 
My autism specialist told me "people with autism have a lot of gastrointestinal problems". It sounded like an uncontroversial statement.

I agree that there's a insufficient attention given to these and some other aspects of autism. My impression is that the focus is usually on social skills, behaviours, communication, comorbid psychiatric disorders, work. Little about diet, sensory issues, sleep, when these are also important, and in my opinion, easier to address.
 
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My second cousin had done a lot of trial and error testing of diet with her two girls that have autism, though I have not seen her for many years and have only discussed by email with her her third daughter, who has a specific form of dyslexic that I had previously researched, in relation to battling for additional education resources. However visiting the grandmother, who is also my godmother, is easy for me as she is used to catering for food intolerances and specific diets because of the grandchildren.

So I had just assumed that dealing with gastrointestinal issues was pretty standard for autism, as it is for many people with ME/CFS and that these were something that are best managed with dietary modification rather than any psychological considerations again as in ME/CFS.
 
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