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

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Widerströmska Huset, Tomtebodavägen 18A, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden

    Selma Idring, Michael Lundberg, Christina Dalman, Dheeraj Rai & Cecilia Magnusson

  2. Neurodevelopmental Psychiatry Unit Southeast, Child and Youth Psychiatry, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden

    Selma Idring & Harald Sturm

  3. Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden

    Christina Dalman & Cecilia Magnusson

  4. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Clara Gumpert

  5. Academic Unit of Psychiatry, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Dheeraj Rai

  6. Avon and Wiltshire Partnership NHS Mental Health Trust, Bristol, UK

    Dheeraj Rai

  7. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Brian K. Lee

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  1. Selma Idring
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  2. Michael Lundberg
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  3. Harald Sturm
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  4. Christina Dalman
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  8. Cecilia Magnusson
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Correspondence to Selma Idring.

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Idring, S., Lundberg, M., Sturm, H. et al. Changes in Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in 2001–2011: Findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 1766–1773 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2336-y

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