Post-traumatic stress disorder, obesity and autism; and more

Interacting conditions: Autistic people are more likely than their non-autistic peers to have obesity and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), along with other health conditions, according to a new analysis of Medicaid records. The links between stress, trauma and obesity are well studied in the general population but not in the context of autism. Autistic children and young adults were 2.12 times more likely to be obese than their non-autistic peers, consistent with past research. The prevalence of PTSD is harder to pin down, in part because the condition can present differently in autistic people. In the new study, the association between autism and obesity was stronger in people without PTSD than in those with the condition. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 

More autism research we spotted:

• “Cell-type specific global reprogramming of the transcriptome and epigenome in induced neurons with the 16p11.2 neuropsychiatric CNVs” European Journal of Human Genetics
• “Sex-specific perturbations of neuronal development caused by mutations in the autism risk gene DDX3X” Nature Communications

• “Identifying and addressing the missing links between research, policy, and practice in autism research: Lessons from early autism screening and intervention research” Autism Research
• “A reduced ability to discriminate social from non-social touch at the circuit level may underlie social avoidance in autism” Nature Communications
  See also: “How ‘social touch’ shapes autism traits”
• “Navigating the future of polygenic risk scores: Insights from child and adolescent psychiatrists” Child Psychiatry & Human Development
• “Convergent evidence linking neonatal vitamin D status and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders: A Danish case-cohort study” The Lancet Psychiatry