While diagnostic assessments for autism routinely screen for reduced frequency of gestures, evidence supporting reduced gesture production in autism is inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to clarify differences in frequency of gestures between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Included studies compared frequency of gestures between autistic and neurotypical individuals. Database searches (APA PsycInfo, ERIC, MEDLINE, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global) and a call for unpublished data on the International Society for Gesture Studies listserv identified research from January 1994 to March 2023. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Quasi-Experimental Designs. Quantitative synthesis involved a narrative review of all findings and meta-analysis of articles allowing effect size calculations, stratified by the type of gesture. Thirty-one articles comparing frequency of gestures between 701 autistic and 860 neurotypical individuals were included in the narrative review, 25 of which were also included in the meta-analysis. Compared to neurotypical individuals, meta-analyses found that autistic individuals produced significantly less total, deictic, and emblematic gestures. While the number of iconic gestures appeared comparable between groups, studies investigating iconic gestures exhibited an almost equal trend of both positive and negative effect sizes, which were mostly nonsignificant. The way gesture production was measured, age, observer familiarity, and task structure (but not overall study quality) moderated the effect size, albeit inconsistently across the types of gestures. Findings have implications relating to profiling gesture use in diagnostic assessments for autism and highlight gaps in our understanding of differences in gesture production in autism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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比较自闭症患者和神经正常个体之间的手势频率：系统评价和荟萃分析。

虽然自闭症的诊断评估通常会筛查手势频率的减少，但支持自闭症手势产生减少的证据并不一致。这项系统回顾和荟萃分析旨在澄清自闭症患者和神经正常患者之间手势频率的差异。纳入的研究比较了自闭症患者和神经正常患者之间的手势频率。数据库检索（APA PsycInfo、ERIC、MEDLINE、ProQuest Dissertations 和Theses Global）以及对国际手势研究学会 listserv 上未发表数据的征集确定了 1994 年 1 月至 2023 年 3 月的研究。研究质量使用 Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal 进行评估准实验设计清单。定量综合涉及对所有发现的叙述性审查和文章的荟萃分析，允许计算效果大小，并按手势类型进行分层。叙述性评论中纳入了 31 篇文章，比较了 701 名自闭症患者和 860 名神经正常个体之间的手势频率，其中 25 篇文章也纳入了荟萃分析。与神经正常个体相比，荟萃分析发现，自闭症个体产生的总体性、指示性和象征性手势明显较少。虽然标志性手势的数量在各组之间似乎具有可比性，但对标志性手势的研究显示出积极和消极影响大小几乎相同的趋势，而且大多不显着。测量手势产生的方式、年龄、观察者熟悉程度和任务结构（但不是整体研究质量）调节了效果大小，尽管手势类型之间的效果不一致。研究结果对于分析自闭症诊断评估中的手势使用情况具有重要意义，并突显了我们对自闭症手势产生差异的理解上的差距。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。