People who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth are three to six times as likely to be autistic as cisgender people are, according to the largest study yet to examine the connection. About 30,000, or 5 percent, of the cisgender people in the study have autism, the researchers found, whereas 895, or 24 percent, of the gender-diverse people do.

Gender-diverse people are also more likely to report autism traits and to suspect they have undiagnosed autism. They report, on average, more traits associated with autism, such as sensory difficulties, pattern-recognition skills and lower rates of empathy