Factors associated with age at autism diagnosis in a community sample of Australian adults
Factors associated with age at autism diagnosis in a community sample of Australian adults
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DOI：
10.1002/aur.2610
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发表时间：
2021-09-16
期刊：
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Trollor, Julian N.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Huang, Yunhe;Arnold, Samuel R. C.;Trollor, Julian N.
由于意识、诊断标准和专业实践的变化等一系列因素，成年后的自闭症诊断变得越来越常见。过去的研究确定了一系列与儿童自闭症诊断年龄相关的人口统计和自闭症相关因素。然而，目前还不清楚这些是否适用于自闭症成年人。这项研究的目的是在控制当前年龄和自闭症特征的同时，检查成人自闭症诊断年龄的预测因素。我们使用了来自三项自我和照顾者报告研究的657名年龄在15-80岁的成年人的横断面样本：澳大利亚成人自闭症纵向研究(ALSAA)、澳大利亚自闭症离校生研究(SASLA)和成年接受自闭症光谱诊断的路径、预测因素和影响(路径)。采用分层乘法异方差回归分析发现，年龄越大、自闭症自述特征越高，预测诊断年龄越大的因素是女性、无智力障碍、除英语以外的语言、自闭症家族史、终生抑郁、无强迫症等。高度自闭症特征和较大诊断年龄之间的矛盾关系需要进一步研究。基于这些发现，我们建议了一些策略，以提高女性和非英语背景人群对自闭症的认识。未来的研究可以通过检查儿童和成人的社会经济地位对成人诊断年龄的影响来扩展这一发现。
Autism diagnosis in adulthood has become increasingly common due to a range of factors including changes in awareness, diagnostic criteria, and professional practices. Past research identified a range of demographic and autism-related factors associated with autism diagnosis age in children. However, it is unclear whether these apply to autistic adults. This study aimed to examine predictors of autism diagnosis age in adults while controlling for current age and autistic traits. We used a cross-sectional sample of 657 adults aged 15-80 from three self and carer-report studies: the Australian Longitudinal Study of Autism in Adulthood (ALSAA), Study of Australian School-Leavers with Autism (SASLA) and Pathways, Predictors and Impact of Receiving an Autism Spectrum Diagnosis in Adulthood (Pathways). Using hierarchical multiplicative heteroscedastic regression, we found that older current age and higher self-reported autistic traits predicted older diagnosis age, and that female gender, lack of intellectual disability, language other than English, family history of autism, lifetime depression, and no obsessive-compulsive disorder predicted older diagnosis age beyond current age and autistic traits. The paradoxical relationship between high autistic traits and older diagnosis age requires further investigation. Based on these findings, we recommended strategies to improve autism recognition in women and people from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Future studies could extend the findings by examining the effects of childhood and adulthood socioeconomic status on adult diagnosis age.