Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Siena, Siena, Italy.
CNS Spectr. 2022 Jun;27(3):272-280. doi: 10.1017/S1092852920002011. Epub 2020 Nov 9.
In the last decades, increasing attention has been provided to socio-cultural and neurobiological factors involved in the psychopathology of feeding and eating disorders (FED), encouraging a multifactorial approach. In this framework, several authors stressed an association between FED and other kinds of psychiatric disorders from both a psychopathological and a neurobiological point of view. In particular, many promising contributions are focusing on the possible link between FED and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Growing interest about this association rose from the frequently reported evidence of ASD-like traits amongst FED patients and abnormal eating behaviors amongst patients with ASD. This narrative review overview aims to summarize the most relevant findings about the overlap between different kinds of FED and the autism spectrum, taking into account the most recent hypotheses about the psychopathology of both these conditions. While most of the studies focused on anorexia nervosa, both ASD and autistic traits seem to be detectable also in other kinds of FED. In addition, the recently increased interest toward a dimensional approach to psychopathology led to progressively broadening the concept of ASD, focusing on its subthreshold and gender-specific manifestations and on its link with other psychiatric conditions, including FED. Globally the studies summarized here provide further support to theoretical models featuring a neurodevelopmental approach for mental disorders. In particular, FED have been conceptualized as a possible psychopathological trajectory of a neurodevelopmental alteration, toward which female gender would act as one of many predisposing factors.
在过去的几十年中，人们越来越关注涉及喂养和进食障碍（FED）精神病理学的社会文化和神经生物学因素，鼓励采取多因素方法。在这个框架内，许多作者从精神病理学和神经生物学的角度强调了 FED 与其他精神障碍之间的关联。特别是，许多有前途的研究都集中在 FED 和自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）之间可能存在的联系上。这种关联的日益关注源于 FED 患者中经常报告的 ASD 样特征和 ASD 患者中异常的进食行为的证据。本综述概述旨在总结关于不同类型的 FED 和自闭症谱系之间重叠的最相关发现，同时考虑到这两种情况精神病理学的最新假设。虽然大多数研究都集中在神经性厌食症上，但 ASD 和自闭症特征似乎也可以在其他类型的 FED 中检测到。此外，最近对精神病理学的维度方法的兴趣增加导致 ASD 概念的不断扩大，重点关注其亚阈值和性别特异性表现以及与其他精神障碍（包括 FED）的联系。总的来说，这里总结的研究为精神障碍的神经发育方法的理论模型提供了进一步的支持。特别是，FED 被概念化为神经发育改变的一种可能的精神病理轨迹，而女性性别则是许多促成因素之一。
