Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40974512›Full record

ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2025

Bone Health in Autistic Children: Evidence from a Population-Representative Australian Cohort Study.

Martin O'Flaherty, Sjaan Gomersall, Jessica Hill, Kathryn Fortnum, Matthew Bourke, John Cairney, Craig Munns, Peter Simm, Marta Erlandson

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Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Orthopaedist Beware: Severe Nutritional Rickets and Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Martin O'FlahertySchool of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. m.oflaherty@uq.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0788-2598
Sjaan GomersallSchool of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Jessica HillSchool of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Kathryn FortnumSchool of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Matthew BourkeSchool of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
John CairneySchool of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences and Health and Wellbeing Centre for Research Innovation, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Craig MunnsChild Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Peter SimmRoyal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
Marta ErlandsonCollege of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeAutistic children have been shown to have poorer bone health than their non-autistic peers, but previous evidence on this topic has been based on small clinical samples and is limited by how bone health has been measured. The association between autism and bone health may also reflect confounding by correlated genetic or environmental factors, but prior studies have not addressed this issue.

methodsWe address these issues using data from a population-representative cohort of Australian children with bone health measured by peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) for both children and parents. Data for 1,274 children (66 autistic, 1,208 non-autistic) aged 11-12 years (50% male) were drawn from the Child Health CheckPoint within the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. pQCT measures at the tibial diaphysis (ankle) and metaphysis (shin) were recorded using an identical protocol for children and one attending parent. Child autism was parent reported. Regression analyses were used to compare differences between autistic and non-autistic children, and between parents of autistic children and parents of non-autistic children.

resultsOur findings indicate poorer bone health as assessed by tibial pQCT among autistic children compared to non-autistic children at both the metaphysis and diaphysis. No differences in pQCT measures were found between parents of autistic and non-autistic children, suggesting no evidence of confounding by shared genetic or environmental factors.

conclusionThese findings reinforce the need to support improved bone development among autistic children and suggest that differences in bone health are likely driven by behavioural factors that are potentially amenable to intervention.

Indexed as

AutismBone healthChildPQCT

Identifiers

PMID40974512

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.