More U.S. adults than ever before have autism, and many are being diagnosed not as children, but in later years. ,,, Overall, the rate of autism in people 18 or older more than doubled between 2011 and 2019, from 4.2 per 1,000 to 9.5 per 1,000,according to an analysis of Medicaid data published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry in 2023.
Some of this growth comes from autistic children aging into adulthood. For adults seeking evaluations for the first time, scientists attribute the rise to a variety of factors. Social media has increased awareness of autism. Autism has shed the stigma it used to hold. The definition of the condition has expanded over time to include a broader range of behaviors.
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Autism first appeared as a distinct diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standardized classification system for mental disorders, in 1980. Initially, the diagnosis required children by age 2.5 years to exhibit a narrow set of behaviors that typically applied only to those with severe disabilities.
