Six times more autistic girls than in 2010

Published 2 December 2024 at 15.57

Domestic. The number of girls aged 10–17 who are diagnosed with autism has increased sixfold since 2010, shows a new survey from the National Board of Health and Welfare.

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In 2023, there were roughly 155,000 people aged 2-64 who had an autism diagnosis, which corresponds to around two percent of the population. 40 percent were women.

The highest incidence was found among young adults aged 18-24 where just under five percent of men and four percent of women had the diagnosis.

The proportion of new cases of autism has gradually increased between 2010-2023 among both children and adults and for both sexes. The most clear is the increase among girls aged 10-17, where the number of diagnoses has increased sixfold.

The perception so far has been that autism is more common among boys and men and among children, boys are diagnosed at significantly younger ages than girls and women. But the development over the past decade shows, according to the National Board of Health and Welfare, that especially young girls, but also young women, who receive an autism diagnosis are now as many or more than the boys.

One explanation is stated to be that girls and women at a younger age have been “underdiagnosed” and so far have not been noticed to the same extent as the boys and therefore not detected. Therefore, they have also gone “under the radar”.

– Girls and women may have a different pattern of symptoms than boys and may also be able to handle their difficulties better. Degree of functional impairment can also play a role where those who receive an early diagnosis may have more severe symptoms, says Peter Salmi, project manager for the survey, in a statement.

Another explanation that the National Board of Health and Welfare puts forward is that the knowledge of differences between the sexes in terms of symptoms and degree of functional impairment increased, which led to more people receiving a diagnosis.

In the survey, the National Board of Health and Welfare has also investigated the cumulative number of diagnoses for people in groups who were born in the same calendar year from 1998-2023. It then turns out that seven percent of men and five percent of women had been diagnosed with autism in the cohort with the most new cases.

– The trend is that the increase in new cases is steeper in groups that were born later. It is a bit early to say but this may indicate that we will have a higher proportion of the population diagnosed with autism than before. The number is unexpectedly high and the question of what can explain it needs to be further elucidated, says Peter Salmi.

In the mapping, patterns of co-morbidity were also investigated, whether there are additional diagnoses that interact for the people who receive an autism diagnosis .

– We see that comorbidity is very common in people with autism. Half of the boys and girls who receive an autism diagnosis also have adhd, for example, says Peter Salmi.

Many of those who receive a new autism diagnosis also already have other psychiatric diagnoses in their medical history. Even then, it is mostly about ADHD, but for girls it is especially common that they have previously also had depression and anxiety disorder diagnoses.