Journal article
Autism spectrum disorder: Updated prevalence and comparison of two birth cohorts in a nationally representative Australian sample
T May, E Sciberras, A Brignell, K Williams
BMJ Open | BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2017
Open access
Abstract
Objectives This study aimed to (1) provide an update on the prevalence of parent-reported autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis and new information about teacher-reported ASD in two nationally representative Australian cohorts at ages 10-11 years, (2) examine differences in cohort demographic and clinical profiles and (3) compare the prevalence of teacher-reported ASD and any changes in categorisation over time across the cohorts. Design Secondary analyses were undertaken using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Participants Children were recruited at kindergarten age (K cohort; birth year 1999/2000) and birth (B cohort; birth year 2003/2004), with follow-up o..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
This article uses confidential unit record files from the LSAC survey. The LSAC was initiated and funded by the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and was managed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The findings and views reported in this article are those of the authors and should not be attributed to either the Commonwealth Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, or the Australian Institute of Family Studies. We thank all the families participating in the LSAC study. We wish to thank Melinda Randall, Elfriede Ihsen, Daryl Efron and Cheryl Dissanayake for their contribution to the prior paper reporting LSAC ASD prevalence at under 7 years. We wish to thank the William Collie Trust, University of Melbourne, for their support of authors Dr May, Professor Williams and Ms Brignell. Dr Sciberras is funded by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship 1037159 (2012-2015) and an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship 1110688 (2016-2019). Dr Sciberras also acknowledges the support of the NHMRC-funded Centre of Research Excellence in Child Language (1023493).