Quantifying and exploring camouflaging in men and women with autism.

The camouflaging score is a proxy made from existing measures, not a direct observation of camouflage, and its parts can be affected by anxiety during assessment, examiner gender stereotype, self-report bias, and verbal knowledge. The study only included adults with autism without intellectual disability, so it says little about children, people with intellectual disability, or the wider autism spectrum. There was no comparison group with ADOS scores, so it cannot show whether the sex difference in camouflaging is specific to autism. The design was cross-sectional and correlational, so it cannot show that camouflaging causes depression, anxiety, brain differences, or diagnostic delay. One man's Go/No-Go data were missing, and the brain findings were exploratory.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. Funding came from the UK Medical Research Council, EU-AIMS, the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking, European Union framework funding, EFPIA companies' in-kind contribution, and NIHR CLAHRC East of England.

Do not read the higher average in women as proof that camouflaging identifies sex or causes delayed diagnosis. The groups varied widely, and the study did not test diagnosis or causation.