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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: gender

September 2019
Woman inside MRI machine with clinicians or doctors looking on with clipboards

Autistic girls’ brains show distinct anatomical features

by  /  16 September 2019

Nerve fiber tracts in the brains of autistic girls appear more fragmented than those of typical girls’. Autistic boys’ brains, meanwhile, look like those of typical boys.

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August 2019
young woman or girl sits alone on a window sill, in a sad posture.

Autistic women twice as likely as autistic men to attempt suicide

by  /  7 August 2019

People on the spectrum, and girls and women in particular, are at high risk of suicide; siblings of autistic people are also at heightened risk.

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July 2019

For autistic adults, a hospital stay carries high risk of death

by  /  24 July 2019

Adults with autism are nearly 50 percent more likely to die in the hospital than their typical peers.

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June 2019

Roundtable: Camouflaging in autism

 /  6 June 2019

Watch the complete replay of our roundtable on camouflaging in autism.

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Illustration of cerebellum in human brain

Communication in brain shows sex difference in autism

by  /  3 June 2019

Autistic women show unusually strong connections, and autistic men unusually weak ones, between two brain regions.

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May 2019
A depressed young woman in a tunnel

History of self-harm adds to suicide risk in autistic people

by  /  4 May 2019

People with autism who harm themselves are more than 30 times as likely as the general population to commit suicide. The risk is especially pronounced among girls and women on the spectrum.

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A group of boys and girls holding hands walking on a school hallway

Diagnostic tests don’t miss girls with autism, study suggests

by  /  2 May 2019

Boys and girls with autism get virtually identical scores on three commonly used diagnostic tests, suggesting that sex doesn’t affect the scores.

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The female protective effect, explained

by  /  1 May 2019

One of the leading theories of autism posits that girls and women are biologically protected from the condition.

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Illustration of a strong man holding up a oversized brain

The extreme male brain, explained

by  /  1 May 2019

The ‘extreme male brain’ theory suggests that autism is an exaggeration of systematic sex differences in ways of thinking.

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April 2019
Illustration of scientists trying to piece together a female head in marble

Dutch project aims to raise awareness of autism in women

by  /  30 April 2019

A new network in the Netherlands is focused on problems and solutions specific to autistic girls and women.

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