Changes in Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in 2001–2011: Findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort

Selma Idring, Michael Lundberg, Harald Sturm, Christina Dalman, Clara Gumpert, Dheeraj Rai, Brian K. Lee, Cecilia Magnusson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

215 Scopus citations

Abstract

In a record-linkage study in Stockholm, Sweden, the year 2011 prevalence of diagnosed autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was found to be 0.40, 1.74, 2.46, and 1.76 % among 0–5, 6–12, 13–17, and 18–27 year olds, respectively. The corresponding proportion of cases with a recorded diagnosis of intellectual disability was 17.4, 22.1, 26.1 and 29.4 %. Between 2001 and 2011, ASD prevalence increased almost 3.5 fold among children aged 2–17 years. The increase was mainly accounted for by an eightfold increase of ASD without intellectual disability (from 0.14 to 1.10 %), while the prevalence of ASD with intellectual disability increased only slightly (from 0.28 to 0.34 %). The increase in ASD prevalence is likely contributed to by extrinsic factors such as increased awareness and diagnostics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1766-1773
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume45
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Dec 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorders
  • Intellectual disability
  • Prevalence
  • Stockholm
  • Sweden
  • Time trend

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