Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in 7-9-Year-Old Children in Denmark, Finland, France and Iceland:A Population-Based Registries Approach Within the ASDEU Project

• Published in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
• Main Authors: Delobel-Ayoub, M, Saemundsen, E, Gissler, M, Ego, A, Moilanen, I, Ebeling, H, Rafnsson, V, Klapouszczak, D, Thorsteinsson, E, Arnaldsdóttir, K M, Roge, B, Arnaud, C, Schendel, D
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Autism; Epidemiology; Health information systems; Prevalence; Registries; Iceland
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/prevalence-of-autism-spectrum-disorder-in-79yearold-children-in-denmark-finland-france-and-iceland(85c61c1e-4f1b-431c-b8c0-1c365c1055db).html; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04328-y; https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10803-019-04328-y.pdf

We estimated autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence in 7-9 year-old children in 2015 using data from three nationwide health registry systems (Denmark, Finland, Iceland) and two French population-based regional registries. Prevalence ranged from 0.48% in South-East France to 3.13% in Iceland (South-West France: 0.73%, Finland: 0.77%, Denmark: 1.26%). Male/female ratios ranged from 3.3 in Finland to 5.4 in South-West France. Between 12% (Denmark) and 39% (South-West France) of cases were diagnosed with intellectual disability. The variations in population-based ASD prevalence across four European countries with universal health care practices likely reflect variation in detection, referral and diagnosis practices and autism awareness across these areas. Using established population-based data systems is an efficient approach to monitor ASD prevalence trends over time.