Changes in prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in 2001-2011: findings from the Stockholm youth cohort

J Autism Dev Disord. 2015 Jun;45(6):1766-73. doi: 10.1007/s10803-014-2336-y.

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.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder / epidemiology*
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Sweden / epidemiology
  • Young Adult