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Is Autism More Common Now than Ten Years Ago?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Christopher Gillberg ,
Suzanne Steffenburg  and
Helen Schaumann
Christopher Gillberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Neuropsychiatry Centre, Box 17113, S-402 61 Göteborg, Sweden
Suzanne Steffenburg
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Neuropsychiatry Centre, Box 17113, S-402 61 Göteborg, Sweden
Helen Schaumann
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Neuropsychiatry Centre, Box 17113, S-402 61 Göteborg, Sweden
*
* Correspondence
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Abstract

A total population study of children, aged 13 years and under, suggested that there has been an apparent rise in the frequency of autistic disorder and autistic-like conditions (excluding Asperger's syndrome) in one area of western Sweden over the last ten years. The frequency was 4.0/100 000 in 1980, 7.5/10000 in 1984 and 11.6/10000 in 1988 in the city of Göteborg. Even though the prevalence rates refer to slightly different age cohorts, it was concluded that the apparent increase is in part due to better detection, but also to new cases born to immigrant parents. Typical cases of autistic disorder accounted for 75% of cases, and 20% had normal or near-normal IQs.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 3 , March 1991 , pp. 403 - 409
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

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