ADHD and ASD are both indirectly associated with sensory changes through anxiety

This study investigated the relationship between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) via their impact on sensory processing (SP), which previous simple correlational analysis suggests is affected in both. We examined adults from the general population without clinical diagnoses, using a broad-based self-report survey methodology, looking at the symptoms of ADHD and ASD, SP and a range of other issues (anxiety, reward sensitivity and schizotypy) which are reliant on sensory processing. Their relationship was explored using Exploratory Graph Analysis, a method which assesses whether survey responses cluster into 'communities'. We found three communities, reflecting typical inter and intrapersonal ADHD/ASD problems. Although ADHD/ASD did not form a community with sensory processing, the model suggested ADHD/ASD are connected to sensory processing through intermediary conditions, such as panic anxiety. The model suggested that disorganised thought, speech and behaviour, and challenges in social interaction, use anxiety as a bridge with sensory processing, through aberrant attentional deployment and biases in cognitive processes, which can induce anxious states and therefore manifest in behaviour typical of ADHD/ASD. Previous simple correlational analyses overestimate the direct relationship between ADHD/ASD and sensory processing changes.