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Autism Is as Common in Women as It Is In Men
How many women are we missing?
Autism has always been seen as a male issue. It has been mainly diagnosed in boys (only 1 out of every 4 diagnoses is a girl). More recently, diagnosis in women (and girls) has become more common. The number of psychologists and psychiatrists who understand that women tend to mask their Autism traits and, therefore, are harder to diagnose, has increased.
News articles featuring women diagnosed in adulthood create a domino effect, leading more women to realize they might be Autistic and seek a diagnosis.
But still, how many women are actually Autistic? What is the real ratio between females and males for Autism? Past research has shown it could be anywhere from 1:2 to 1:4. However, a recent study argues that the prevalence is 1:1.
The study focused on evaluating autistic traits in children with an older sibling diagnosed with Autism. The idea here is that when you do a study with a group of children who might be Autistic, you’re already going to have more boys than girls because boys are more likely to be suspected of being Autistic. By removing that bias, they got a 1:1 ratio. For every boy that’s diagnosed with Autism, there’s a girl somewhere who’s also Autistic (although her diagnosis might be missed).
