Reacción a "The incidence of autism is similar in boys and girls, although boys are diagnosed earlier"

This study extends previous research demonstrating relative increases in autism diagnosis amongst females, particularly in adolescents and young adults, and supporting the idea that historically autism has been under-diagnosed in girls and women. The use of population-level healthcare records means that the data are not influenced by self-reporting or recall bias, however there may have been other factors, such as co-occurring mental health conditions, influencing diagnosis timing which were not measured here. Accounting for the whole picture of individuals being assessed is important considering the high rates of conditions such as anxiety, depression, and eating disorders in this group. The authors are not able to explain why the diagnosis ratio is decreasing, as they only had data on when a diagnosis was received, not why it was given. Diagnostic rates are still changing and it remains to be seen whether the male-to-female ratio will continue decreasing, will stabilise, or even will increase again as we continue to 'catch up' with diagnosis of girls and women who were missed earlier in life.