Addressing Methodological Concerns Regarding a Recent Study on Autism and Gender Diversity in a Canadian Gender Identity Clinic

Responding to concerns regarding the methods and findings of a study on autism and gender diversity in Canada

Dinu and colleagues wrote a letter to the editor about a recently published study that looked at differences in characteristics between autistic and non-autistic adults who were seen by clinicians at a Canadian gender identity clinic. Dinu and colleagues encouraged interpreting the findings of the original article with caution, because they were concerned about the type of data, the method of analyzing the data, and the interpretations that the authors made. In this response, we address their concerns and clarify the goals and findings of our original study. Like all retrospective chart review studies, our original study has important limitations. We agree that these limitations should be considered when interpreting our findings, but they do not change the main conclusions of the study. Dinu and colleagues interpreted our study as recommending specific approaches to care for autistic adults. Our response clarifies that our study described autistic transgender and gender diverse adults attending an adult gender identity clinic as having substantial mental health needs and did not recommend specific approaches to care. We conclude that further research and service planning are needed to improve access to individualized mental health and gender-related care for autistic transgender and gender-diverse adults.