Potential mechanisms underlying the association between feeding and eating disorders and autism.

There is a reliable association between autism and Feeding and Eating Disorders. Concerningly, where these two conditions co-occur, clinical outcomes of Feeding and Eating Disorders are significantly worse, and treatment less effective, than when the Feeding and Eating Disorders occur in neurotypical individuals. Problematically, the reason for the association between autism and Feeding and Eating Disorders is poorly understood, which constrains advances in clinical care. This paper outlines several possible mechanisms that may underlie the observed association and suggests ways in which they may be empirically tested. Mechanisms are split into those producing an artefactual association, and those reflecting a genuine link between conditions. Artefactual associations may be due to conceptual overlap in both diagnostic criteria and measurement, Feeding and Eating Disorders causing transient autistic traits, or the association being non-specific in nature. A genuine association between autism and Feeding and Eating Disorders may be due to common causal factors, autism directly or indirectly causing Feeding and Eating Disorders, and Feeding and Eating Disorders being a female manifestation of autism.

The association between anxiety and cardiac interoceptive accuracy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Anxiety is often conceptualised as the prototypical disorder of interoception (one's perception of bodily states). Whilst theoretical models predict an association between interoceptive accuracy and anxiety, empirical work has produced mixed results. This manuscript presents a pre-registered systematic review (https://osf.io/2h5xz) and meta-analysis of 55 studies, obtained via a Pubmed search on 9th November 2020, examining the relationship between state and trait anxiety and objectively measured cardiac interoceptive accuracy as assessed by heartbeat counting and discrimination tasks. Potential moderators of this relationship - the age, gender and clinical diagnoses of participants, the anxiety measures used and the study design - were also explored. Overall, we found no evidence for an association between cardiac interoceptive accuracy and anxiety, with none of the factors examined moderating this finding. We discuss the implications these findings have for future research, with a particular focus on the need for further investigation of the relationship between anxiety and other facets of interoception.

The role of interoception in the overlap between eating disorders and autism: Methodological considerations.

Significant comorbidity has been demonstrated between feeding and eating disorders and autism. Atypical interoception (perception of bodily signals) may, at least in part, be responsible for this association, as it has been implicated in the aetiology of both conditions. However, significant methodological limitations are impeding progress in this area. This paper provides a brief overview of how interoception has been linked to autism and feeding and eating disorders in both adolescent and adult populations before identifying several issues with current measures of interoception. We suggest that methodological issues may be contributing to the inconsistency in the empirical literature, and provide suggestions for future research.

Mental health trajectories in undergraduate students over the first year of university: a longitudinal cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between candidate psychosocial and lifestyle variables and the trajectories of clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms from entry to completion of first-year university. DESIGN: A longitudinal cohort study PARTICIPANTS: First-year undergraduate students METHODS: We analysed the responses of 1686 first-year undergraduate students attending Queen's University who completed electronic surveys at both the beginning and completion of their academic year. Predictors of change in positive anxiety and depressive symptom screens (based on exceeding validated symptom threshold scores) were identified using logistic regression. RESULTS: Increased university connectedness reduced the odds of emergent significant depressive and anxiety symptoms in healthy students and increased the odds of recovery in students who screened positive at the start of university. Students who screened positive for depression or anxiety at university entry were less likely to recover if they had a lifetime history of internalising disorders. Healthy students who increased their drug use over their first year had higher odds of developing significant levels of both anxiety and depressive symptoms by completion of the academic year. CONCLUSIONS: Moderate to severe levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms are common among students at entry to university and persist over the first year. University connectedness may mitigate the risk of persistent or emergent symptoms, whereas drug use appears to increase these risks. Findings have implications for university well-being initiatives.