Body mass index in male and female children with infantile autism.
Boys with infantile autism run thinner than average—track their BMI like you track behavior data.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mouridsen et al. (2002) checked body-mass index in boys and girls with infantile autism.
They compared each child’s BMI to standard growth charts for kids the same age.
What they found
Boys with autism had clearly lower BMI scores than typical boys.
Girls with autism showed the same BMI spread as typical girls.
How this fits with other research
Vassos et al. (2023) later saw higher obesity rates in youth with ASD.
The two studies do not clash: Erik looked at thinness, M looked at obesity, and both agree that boys need extra weight watch.
Carollo et al. (2021) also found sex-only patterns—in their case, motor issues showed up only in girls—so checking boys for BMI and girls for motor signs makes sense.
Why it matters
Plot every boy’s BMI at intake and every six months. A sudden dip can signal feeding or GI issues that affect learning readiness. Share the chart with parents and the pediatrician so nutrition help starts early.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Morphometry, the measurement of forms, is an ancient practice. Recently, evidence has grown to support the notion that aberrant neurodevelopment may play a role in the pathophysiology of autism. Is the body, like the brain, affected by abnormal development in these patients? The aim of this study was to evaluate body mass index (BMI) of children with infantile autism, by comparing the BMI of 117 children with infantile autism with the corresponding BMI percentiles in an age- and sex-matched reference population. The BMI distribution of the male, but not female, children with infantile autism was significantly lower than that of the age-matched reference population. There was no evidence that BMI was associated with intelligence or socioeconomic status among children with infantile autism.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2002 · doi:10.1177/1362361302006002006