The global epidemiology and health burden of the autism spectrum: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 [GBD 2021] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00363-8/fulltext
About 62 million people. Or 1 in every 127 people. And if a quarter of autistic people have 'profound autism', there's over 15 million people with profound autism.
Just one ever so tiny point to make about this study (literature review study): GBD 2021: "The global age-standardised prevalence was 788·3 per 100 000 people" vs. GBD 2019: "The global age-standardised prevalence of the autism spectrum reported by GBD 2019 was 369·4 per 100 000 people".
Yes, there were some (pretty big) differences relating to methodology and data collection including "revisions to the estimation of disability weights" but this strikes me as something that perhaps needs a little closer inspection.
And no, its not all 'growth in adult diagnoses" as per another quote: "Autism spectrum disorder was most common among children and adolescents younger than 20 years, for whom it ranked within the top ten causes of non-fatal health burden".
Indeed, other recent data from the UK pegged the adult autism rate at around 1-1.5%: e.g. Characteristics and primary care experiences of people who self-report as autistic: a probability sample survey of adults registered with primary care services in England https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11404134/ (again, a "weighted proportion estimate"). This is pretty much unchanged from the Brugha study from 10+ years ago.
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