Comorbidity and autism: Trends, topics and future directions

• Comorbidities are common among individuals with ASD.
• Physical conditions, comorbid psychopathology, challenging behaviors and ID can co-occur.
• Further research is required to better understand comorbidities among individuals with ASD.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are common, life-long disorders. Symptoms of ASD often co-occur with other difficulties that also tend to be chronic and debilitating. Common co-occurring difficulties include intellectual disabilities, physical conditions, comorbid psychopathologies and challenging behaviors. However, the idea of comorbidities among individuals with ASD is still a relatively new notion. Thus, a new field of research is developing examining comorbidities with ASD. This field is developing rapidly but is still lacking. This paper highlights the most common forms of comorbid disorders, and the future direction of research on comorbidities among individuals with ASD is discussed.