Gender Diversity, Gender Dysphoria/Incongruence, and the Intersection with Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Updated Scoping Review.
Hannah M Rea, Roald A Øien, Sara Jane Webb and 3 others
PMID 39630339WHAT IT FOUND
Autism diagnoses appear in 0.61% of all participants across 99 studies, while gender diversity appears in 0.14%.
Research remains heavily focused on adults and lacks data on those with intellectual disability. Current assessment methods often fail to capture non-binary identities or accommodate varied communication needs.
Key findings
01Across the reviewed studies, 166,788 participants (0.61%) had autism diagnoses and 38,596 (0.14%) were described as gender diverse.
02Only 29% of studies reported on gender-affirming care, and nine studies explicitly excluded individuals with intellectual disability, leaving key questions about this subgroup unanswered.
03Most studies relied on self-report or file review for autism diagnosis, and gender identity was often characterized by simple questions that may not capture non-binary experiences.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The review was not pre-registered. Unpublished studies were excluded. Papers without English abstracts may have been missed despite no language restrictions. The previous 2018 review did not code several key characteristics (like gender identity methods), so comparisons on those domains were impossible. The total participant count is inflated by large population studies, making the proportion of autistic and gender-diverse individuals appear very low relative to the total N. Most studies excluded or did not report on individuals with intellectual disability, limiting generalizability to that group.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The work was funded by Ostfold University College.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the 0.61% and 0.14% figures as prevalence rates in the general population. These numbers represent the proportion of participants within the specific studies reviewed, many of which were large population datasets where autism and gender diversity are rare, rather than targeted clinical samples.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →