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Brief Report: Sensory Sensitivity is Associated with Disturbed Eating in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders Without Intellectual Disabilities

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Abstract

Aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between sensory sensitivity and autistic eating behaviours or Eating Disorders (EDs) symptomatology, in a group of 75 adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) without intellectual disabilities, through a series of self-report questionnaires. We found that, controlling for demographic and clinical features: (i) hypersensitivity in the vision domain predicted higher levels of both EDs symptoms and autistic eating behaviours; (ii) hyposensitivity in the taste domain predicted higher levels of EDs symptoms. This gives preliminary evidence that not only in children diagnosed with ASDs, but even in adult individuals, the threshold of sensory sensitivity is associated with dysfunctional eating behaviours.

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Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Salute, Università degli Studi di Milano, Presidio San Paolo, via A. di Rudinì, 8, 20142, Milan, Italy

    Veronica Nisticò, Roberta Tedesco, Barbara Giordano, Alberto Priori, Orsola Gambini & Benedetta Demartini

  2. “Aldo Ravelli” Research Center for Neurotechnology and Experimental Brain Therapeutics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Veronica Nisticò, Alberto Priori, Orsola Gambini & Benedetta Demartini

  3. Unità di Psichiatria 52, Presidio San Paolo, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy

    Raffaella Faggioli, Orsola Gambini & Benedetta Demartini

  4. III Clinica Neurologica, Presidio San Paolo, ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo, Milan, Italy

    Alberto Priori

Authors
  1. Veronica Nisticò
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  2. Raffaella Faggioli
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  3. Roberta Tedesco
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  4. Barbara Giordano
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  5. Alberto Priori
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  6. Orsola Gambini
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  7. Benedetta Demartini
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Contributions

VN, BD: Designed, conceived and planned the study; analyzed the data; drafted the manuscript for intellectual content RF, AP, BD: Designed and conceived the study; revised the manuscript for intellectual content RT, BG: Major role in the acquiring and analyzing the data; analyzed the data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benedetta Demartini.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee.

Research Involving Human Participants

This research involves human participants.

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All participants signed an online-written informed consent form before completing the questionnaire.

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Nisticò, V., Faggioli, R., Tedesco, R. et al. Brief Report: Sensory Sensitivity is Associated with Disturbed Eating in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders Without Intellectual Disabilities. J Autism Dev Disord 53, 3295–3300 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05439-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05439-9

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