Autism and GI Disorders: Largest-Ever Analysis Confirms Strong Link

The first meta-analysis of all published research on autism and gastrointestinal symptoms shows that GI disorders are four times more common among children with autism than among other children. The report appears today in the journal Pediatrics.

In the new analysis, the researchers reviewed all published research looking at GI symptoms and autism – more than 950 journal articles in all. They then looked at the combined results of the 15 studies they judged as meeting the highest standards of scientific reliability. All were published in the last ten years, with a combined enrollment of 2,215 children with autism.

 

The analysis showed that, overall, children with autism were four times more likely to have generalized GI problems than were children without the disorder. Chronic constipation and diarrhea were both three times more common among the children with autism. And children with autism were twice as likely to indicate they had abdominal pain.

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