Michelle Dawson posts
Structured cited links
Clare Harrop, Brianne Tomaszewski, Orla Putnam, Claire Klein, Elena Lamarche, Laura Klinger (2024). Are the diagnostic rates of autistic females increasing? An examination of state‐wide trends. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 65(7), 973-983. Wiley.
Abstract
Background Autism has been considered a ‘male‐dominant’ condition. However, recent research suggests that autistic females are underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and later diagnosed. Females may also have different and more nuanced behavioral profiles. To examine diagnosis rates of females, we used 20 years of state‐wide data to characterize historical trends in the diagnosis of autism in females to determine whether the proportion of females diagnosed with autism has changed over time. Methods Data were drawn from 10,247 participants (males = 8,319, females = 1928) who received an autism diagnosis between 2000 and 2021 from state‐wide autism centers associated with the University of North Carolina TEACCH Autism Program. Results The rates of females diagnosed with autism increased at a greater rate compared with males. Age of diagnosis remained consistently higher for females. Late diagnosis (defined as 13+) increased over time across both males and females, however, was more commonly associated with females, particularly those with co‐occurring intellectual disability. Conclusions Our results indicate that the proportion of females diagnosed with autism has increased steadily over a 20‐year period, which likely reflects greater societal knowledge of how autism may manifest differentially in females.
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