Health anxiety in autistic adults

Abstract

Background: Health anxiety involves misinterpreting normal bodily sensations as symptoms of a serious illness. No study to date has explored health anxiety in autistic adults. This cross-sectional study had three aims: 1) to examine the levels of health anxiety in autistic and non-autistic adults, 2) to explore sex differences in health anxiety across both subsamples, and 3) to determine whether autistic traits were associated with health anxiety in either or both subsamples. Method: A cross-sectional self-report questionnaire measuring demographic information (sex, age, ethnicity), diagnostic information, comorbid diagnoses, autistic traits, and health anxiety was distributed to 110 autistic and 110 non-autistic adults without intellectual disability. Results: The findings showed health anxiety to be significantly higher in autistic than non-autistic adults, and significantly higher in females than males in both subsamples. Almost 1 in 3 autistic people reported clinically significant levels of health anxiety. Positive correlations were found between autistic traits and health anxiety in both autistic and non-autistic subsamples, and these relationships remained statistically significantly after controlling for covariates. Conclusions: This is the first study to investigate health anxiety in a sample of autistic people, and also the first to consider the relationship between autistic traits and health anxiety in both autistic and non-autistic individuals. The findings have both clinical and research implications.