Neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions in 600 Swedish Children with the ARFID phenotype

Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a feeding and eating disorder characterized by extremely restricted dietary variety and/or quantity resulting in serious consequences for physical health and psychosocial functioning. ARFID often co-occurs with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) and psychiatric conditions, but previous data are mostly limited to small clinical samples examining a narrow range of conditions. Here, we examined NDCs and psychiatric conditions in a large, population-based group of children with ARFID.

In a sample of 30,795 children born 1992-2008 in Sweden, ARFID was assessed using parent reports and clinical diagnoses from national health registers. Parents further reported symptoms of NDCs and psychiatric conditions at child age 9 or 12 years. We conducted regressions for symptom scores and screening diagnoses (identified using validated cut offs) on ARFID and examined interactions with sex.

Children with ARFID had significantly increased odds of all 17 screening diagnoses with odds ratios ranging from 3.3 for visual hallucinations to 13.7 for autism (all p<.0001). The most common NDCs were oppositional defiant disorder (19.4%), ADHD (16.9%), tic disorders (14.8%), and autism (12.1%). Among psychiatric conditions, separation anxiety disorder (29.0%) and sleep problems (20.0%) had the highest prevalence. We did not find any sex-specific differences in co-occurring conditions.

This study highlights the co-occurrence of a broad range of NDCs and psychiatric conditions with ARFID in a large, non-clinical cohort. Our findings underscore that children with ARFID face significant burden from multiple co-existing conditions which should be considered during assessment and treatment.