A recent study showed that the prevalence of autism among males and females may be similar, contrary to the prevailing belief that males are more susceptible to it.
Previous studies
Studies indicate that this disorder, which affects neurological development, appears more among males in the early stages of life. However, the new study, published by researchers in the British Medical Journal, revealed a clear effect in later stages of life for females, which reduces this disparity.
The researchers emphasized that these results call for more in-depth studies to understand the reasons for the delayed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in females compared to males.
Autism spectrum disorders have seen a rise in prevalence over the past three decades, with 3 males being diagnosed for every female, often in childhood before the age of 10.
To analyze diagnosis rates with age, researchers from Sweden and the United States followed 2.7 million people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2022, from birth until a maximum of 37 years of age.
Overall, 2.8% of participants were diagnosed with autism, and the average age of diagnosis was 14 years.
Diagnosis rates were higher among boys aged 10 to 14 years and girls aged 15 to 19 years.
Researchers found that the male-to-female ratio roughly equalized by age 20, reaching 1:1.
In an accompanying editorial, patient advocate Anne Curry wrote that these findings and other recent research suggest that “current practices fail to detect autism in many women until later in life, or may not detect it at all.”
The study did not take into account genetic or environmental factors or other symptoms associated with autism, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and intellectual disability, which may have influenced the patients’ diagnosis.
No gender gap
Dr Rachel Moseley from Bournemouth University in the UK, who was not involved in the study, commented: “This paper is timely and provides important support for what autism researchers have long observed” about a significant gap in autism diagnosis in females.
The higher male-to-female ratio is also due to girls’ superior social and communication skills, which makes it more difficult to detect autism in them.
“What we know about autistic people who go undiagnosed is that going undiagnosed is often associated with severe difficulties and even suicidal tendencies – so the absence of a diagnosis…should be a serious concern,” Mosley added.
