Final published version
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Autism trends in a medium size coastal town of England
AU - Fleet, Benjamin G.
AU - Elliott, Alicia
AU - Orwin, Margaret
AU - Spencer, Mark
AU - Sedda, Luigi
PY - 2023/6/30
Y1 - 2023/6/30
N2 - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex set of neurodevelopmental conditions which affects just under 1% of the global population. This study aims to investigate the trends in ASD diagnoses in a typical English deprived coastal community over the last two decades. ASD information for patients registered at Fleetwood GP practices were provided for the period between July 1952 to March 2022. The incidence and prevalence were calculated and Poisson regression modelling was employed to estimate the effects of age and sex on the number of ASD diagnoses over time. The study shows that there has been an upward trend in the number of ASD diagnoses over the past two decades. Model’s results showed that sex differences in ASD diagnoses are less pronounced when accounting for time trends. The study findings show that Fleetwood has experienced a similar rise in ASD cases as the rest of the UK, most likely due to increased awareness that may explain the time effects over gender differences. However, due to the small sample size of the study, confirmation of the gender results and identification of the factors determining the temporal trends are needed in order to determine the gender effects in ASD diagnosis.
AB - Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex set of neurodevelopmental conditions which affects just under 1% of the global population. This study aims to investigate the trends in ASD diagnoses in a typical English deprived coastal community over the last two decades. ASD information for patients registered at Fleetwood GP practices were provided for the period between July 1952 to March 2022. The incidence and prevalence were calculated and Poisson regression modelling was employed to estimate the effects of age and sex on the number of ASD diagnoses over time. The study shows that there has been an upward trend in the number of ASD diagnoses over the past two decades. Model’s results showed that sex differences in ASD diagnoses are less pronounced when accounting for time trends. The study findings show that Fleetwood has experienced a similar rise in ASD cases as the rest of the UK, most likely due to increased awareness that may explain the time effects over gender differences. However, due to the small sample size of the study, confirmation of the gender results and identification of the factors determining the temporal trends are needed in order to determine the gender effects in ASD diagnosis.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0287808
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0287808
M3 - Journal article
VL - 18
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 6
M1 - e0287808
ER -