Investigating the utility of the AQ-10 in children and adolescents assessed in an outpatient ARFID clinic.

The high co-occurrence of autism and eating disorders is well established, including for those with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). It is therefore important to consider autism and identify possible autism when people present to eating disorder services to ascertain whether further assessment is indicated, to support clinical formulation and to make appropriate adaptations during interventions. This paper explores the utility of a validated autism screening measure, the AQ-10, in a population of children and adolescents who presented to an outpatient eating disorders clinic for an assessment of possible ARFID.

Current evidence for avoidant restrictive food intake disorder: Implications for clinical practice and future directions.

Background: ARFID (avoidant restrictive food intake disorder) is a relatively new diagnostic term covering a number of well-recognised, clinically significant disturbances in eating behaviour unrelated to body weight/shape concerns. Its phenotypic heterogeneity combined with much about the condition remaining unknown, can contribute to uncertainties about best practice. While other reviews of the evidence base for ARFID exist, few specifically target health care professionals and implications for clinical practice.

The clinical presentation of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder in children and adolescents is largely independent of sex, autism spectrum disorder and anxiety traits.

Background: Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a new eating disorder with a heterogeneous clinical presentation. It is unclear which patient characteristics contribute to its heterogeneity.

Methods: To identify these patient characteristics, we performed symptom-level correlation and driver-level regression analyses in our cross-sectional study in up to 261 ARFID patients (51% female; median age = 12.