Background Clinical experience suggests that gender variance (GV) and/or gender dysphoria (GD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) characteristics co-occur more frequently than expected.
Aim This literature review examines the available publications focusing on the co-occurrence of GD/GV and ASD in children and adolescents.
Method PubMed and Embase were systematically searched for relevant publications with search terms related to ‘autism spectrum disorder’ and ‘gender dysphoria/gender variance’.
Results A total of 12 publications were included. A higher incidence of comorbidity was reported compared to what is epidemiologically expected, starting from an ASD study population and a population of children and adolescents with GD/GV. The results should be interpreted with caution due to methodological limitations in the studies as e.g. in the diagnostic assessment and the frequent lack of a control group.
Conclusion The more frequent co-occurrence of ASD and GD/GV has consequences for clinical practice. In both diagnostic and supportive care pathways, it is advisable to recognize and acknowledge both conditions and to work out an adapted pathway. More targeted research into specific characteristics in this group is necessary in order to fine-tune (mental) health care and long-term perspectives.