Childhood diagnoses in individuals identified as autistics in adulthood.
Eya-Mist Rødgaard, Kristian Jensen, Kamilla Woznica Miskowiak and 1 others
PMID 34903278WHAT IT FOUND
69% of males and 61% of females diagnosed with autism in adulthood had no recorded selected childhood psychiatric or neurological diagnosis before age 18.
Among those who did, median age was over 10 for most diagnoses.
Key findings
01Most people diagnosed with autism in adulthood had no recorded selected psychiatric or neurological diagnosis before age 18: 69% of males and 61% of females.
02When childhood diagnoses were recorded, only 16% of males and 9% of females had any before age 12, and median age was over 10 for most diagnoses.
03Compared with people without a recorded autism diagnosis, those diagnosed with autism in adulthood had more recorded childhood diagnoses for all conditions examined except migraine and sleep disorder.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study only saw diagnoses recorded in Danish hospitals, so childhood problems managed by primary care, private psychiatrists, or school psychologists may be missing. It used registry autism diagnoses, not confirmed clinical evaluation, so it cannot tell whether every adult diagnosis was a true autism diagnosis. It reports recorded childhood diagnoses, not observed childhood symptoms or support needs. The data are from Denmark and hospital records from 1994 to 2018, so they may not apply to other countries or health systems.
Declared interests
Funded by the Ivan Nielsen Foundation, Sofie Foundation, Lundbeckfonden, Weimann Foundation, and Brain Canada.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that most adults diagnosed with autism had their autism missed as another childhood diagnosis. Most had no recorded selected childhood diagnosis before age 18, and the hospital registry may miss diagnoses made outside hospitals.