HQ Team
January 10, 2025: About 61.8 million globally, or one in every 127 people, had autism spectrum disorder in 2021, according to new research that expanded on the Global Disease Burden study.
Autism spectrum disorder accounted for 11·5 million daily-adjusted life years, equivalent to 147·6 per 100,000 people globally, according to a study funded by Queensland Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
At the super-region level, age-standardised daily-adjusted life years rates ranged from 126·5 per 100,000 people in Southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania to 204·1 per 100,000 people in the high-income super-region, the authors of the study wrote in The Lancet Psychiatry.
Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental condition characterised by persistent difficulties in social communication and interaction, challenges related to sensory processing, repetitive behaviours, interests, or activities, and in some instances intellectual disability, all of which occur at varying levels of severity.
Social isolation
The neurological and developmental disorder is caused by differences in the brain and symptoms usually appear in the first two years of life.
Autistic people are at an increased risk of social isolation, and academic or employment difficulties, and might require psychosocial support into adulthood.
Early diagnosis and intervention can improve outcomes for autistic people, but many do not receive early support, according to the authors. Autism spectrum disorder was ranked among the top ten causes of non-fatal health burden for people younger than 20 years.
Early detection and support
The study aimed to unravel the epidemiology and health burden of the autism spectrum, as other researchers have covered emerging trends across 371 diseases mentioned in the Global Burden of Diseases.
The high prevalence and high rank for non-fatal health burden of autism spectrum disorder in people younger than 20 years underscore the importance of early detection and support to autistic young people and their caregivers globally, according to the authors.
“Work to improve the precision and global representation of our findings is required, starting with better global coverage of epidemiological data so that geographical variations can be better ascertained.
“The work presented here can guide future research efforts, and importantly, decisions concerning the allocation of health services that better address the needs of all autistic individuals.”
