Prevalence and Predictors of Anxiety Disorders in Adolescent and Adult Males with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome.

Only 20 males with non-syndromic ASD and 31 males with FXS were assessed, all aged 13 to 24, so the results do not tell you what to expect in females or in people outside the 13 to 24 age range. The groups were not equivalent on cognitive ability. The ASD group included eight participants with nonverbal IQ above 70, and the FXS group had lower cognitive ability overall, so differences in IQ may have affected the results. Anxiety diagnoses came from parent report, not participant self-report. Parents may misattribute anxiety signs to other causes, especially when the person has moderate intellectual disability. The study measured current anxiety only. If medication was controlling symptoms, past anxiety history could be missed, which may explain mismatches between diagnosis and medication use. Medication data were parent-reported and did not account for other conditions such as ADHD, aggression, or sleep problems that may have motivated medication. The predictor analyses had limited variability in nonverbal ability and ASD severity, so they may not have had enough power to detect associations.

The listed authors declared no conflict of interest. No funding source is stated in the article text.

Do not use nonverbal ability or ASD symptom severity to decide who should be assessed for anxiety in these groups. The study found no significant association between either factor and anxiety disorder, so anxiety may be present without those markers.