2026/06/01 by Aphrodite Eshetu, Saloni Ghai, Anne Corbett +7 · 1 voice
Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology · #Autism Spectrum Disorder Research #Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
paper · doi:10.1038/s44220-026-00654-0
openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2026/06/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Anxiety is a highly prevalent mental health condition, and it is particularly common in autistic populations. However, little is known about its course beyond midlife in autistic populations owing to limited longitudinal research. Here we analyzed data from 5,270 adults aged 50-91 years (median 62 years; 75% female) in the PROTECT study. Participants completed measures of autistic traits (the Autistic Spectrum Traits Questionnaire) and current anxiety symptoms (the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 questionnaire). In total, 66 participants (~1.3%; 72.3% female) had high autistic traits (AST group), while 3,874 (~73.5%; 77.8% female) reported none (comparison adults). Growth mixture modeling identified anxiety symptom trajectories over an 8-year annual follow-up period. Associations between AST group and trajectory membership were examined using multinomial logistic regression. Growth mixture modeling revealed three class trajectories: two representing persistently minimal anxiety symptoms (class 1, 'lower range minimal', 85.6% of sample; class 2, 'upper-range minimal', 12.4% of sample) and one showing rising anxiety from 'mild to clinical' levels (class 3, 2% of sample). Regressions showed that AST participants were more likely than comparison adults to follow the mild-to-clinical trajectory (relative risk 4.41, 95% confidence interval 1.70-11.44). Elevated autistic traits are associated with an increased risk of worsening anxiety with age, highlighting the need for tailored support.