Camouflaging, not sensory processing or autistic identity, predicts eating disorder symptoms in autistic adults.

The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether camouflaging, sensory issues or autistic identity came before eating disorder symptoms. The eating disorder symptom measure focused on weight and shape concerns and may not capture autistic eating difficulties such as ARFID. The autistic identity measure was not originally designed for autistic identity. Participants were mostly White (87.2%) and female (64.4%), so findings may not apply to non-White, non-cis, children or people with high support needs. Autism diagnosis was not verified, and self-identified autistic adults were included. Recruitment route was not recorded, so the balance of NHS and community participants is unknown. The AQ-10 was used only descriptively and was not used to confirm autism status.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Two named authors were supported by UK Research and Innovation (MRC, ESRC, AHRC), the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Foundation as part of the EDAC network (grant MR/X03058X/1).

Do not conclude that camouflaging causes eating disorder symptoms. This was a cross-sectional self-report study, so direction was not tested; also, the eating disorder measure may not capture autistic presentations, especially when symptoms are not driven by weight or shape concerns.