Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Incidence, prevalence, and global burden of autism spectrum disorder from 1990 to 2019 across 204 countries

Molecular Psychiatry volume 27, pages 4172–4180 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) substantially contributes to the burden of mental disorders. Improved awareness and changes in diagnostic criteria of ASD may have influenced the diagnostic rates of ASD. However, while data on trends in diagnostic rates in some individual countries have been published, updated estimates of diagnostic rate trends and ASD-related disability at the global level are lacking. Here, we used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study data to address this gap, focusing on changes in prevalence, incidence, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of ASD across the world. From 1990 to 2019, overall age-standardized estimates remained stable globally. Both prevalence and DALYs increased in countries with high socio-demographic index (SDI). However, the age-standardized incidence decreased in some low SDI countries, indicating a need to improve awareness. The male/female ratio decreased between 1990 and 2019, possibly accounted for by increasing clinical attention to ASD in females. Our results suggest that ASD detection in low SDI countries is suboptimal, and that ASD prevention/treatment in countries with high SDI should be improved, considering the increasing prevalence of the disorder. Additionally, growing attention is being paid to ASD diagnosis in females, who might have been left behind by ASD epidemiologic and clinical research previously. ASD burden estimates are underestimated as GBD does not account for mortality in ASD.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Global burden of Autism-Spectrum Disorder by country or territory, 2019.
Fig. 2: Prevalence trends of Autism-Spectrum Disorder from 1990 to 2019.
Fig. 3: Age patterns of Autism-Spectrum Disorder.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Data are publicly available at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) website (http://www.ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool).

References

  1. Steinhausen HC, Jakobsen H. Incidence rates of treated mental disorders in childhood and adolescence in a complete nationwide birth cohort. J Clin Psychiatry. 2019;80:17m12012.

  2. Kim JY, Son MJ, Son CY, Radua J, Eisenhut M, Gressier F, et al. Environmental risk factors and biomarkers for autism spectrum disorder: an umbrella review of the evidence. Lancet Psychiatry. 2019;6:590–600.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kim JH, Kim JY, Lee J, Jeong GH, Lee E, Lee S, et al. Environmental risk factors, protective factors, and peripheral biomarkers for ADHD: an umbrella review. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7:955–70.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Solmi M, Radua J, Olivola M, Croce E, Soardo L, Salazar de Pablo G, et al. Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies. Mol Psychiatry. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01161-7.

  5. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-V). Washington: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

  6. Weye N, Santomauro DF, Agerbo E, Christensen MK, Iburg KM, Momen NC, et al. Register-based metrics of years lived with disability associated with mental and substance use disorders: a register-based cohort study in Denmark. Lancet Psychiatry. 2021;8:310–9.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Delobel-Ayoub M, Ehlinger V, Klapouszczak D, Maffre T, Raynaud J-P, Delpierre C, et al. Socioeconomic disparities and prevalence of autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0141964–e0141964.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Collaborators IS-LDBIMD. The burden of mental disorders across the states of India: the Global Burden of Disease Study 1990-2017. Lancet Psychiatry. 2020;7:148–61.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mohammadi MR, Ahmadi N, Khaleghi A, Zarafshan H, Mostafavi S-A, Kamali K, et al. Prevalence of autism and its comorbidities and the relationship with maternal psychopathology: a national population-based study. Arch Iran Med. 2019;22:546–53.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Eapen V, Mabrouk AA, Zoubeidi T, Yunis F. Prevalence of pervasive developmental disorders in preschool children in the UAE. J Trop Pediatr. 2007;53:202–5.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Davidovitch M, Hemo B, Manning-Courtney P, Fombonne E. Prevalence and incidence of autism spectrum disorder in an israeli population. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013;43:785–93.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Qiu S, Lu Y, Li Y, Shi J, Cui H, Gu Y, et al. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in Asia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry Res. 2020;284:112679.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Yeargin-Allsopp M, Rice C, Karapurkar T, Doernberg N, Boyle C, Murphy C. Prevalence of Autism in a US metropolitan area. JAMA 2003;289:49–55.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Idring S, Lundberg M, Sturm H, Dalman C, Gumpert C, Rai D, et al. Changes in prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in 2001–11: findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort. J Autism Dev Disord. 2015;45:1766–73.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Baxter AJ, Brugha TS, Erskine HE, Scheurer RW, Vos T, Scott JG. The epidemiology and global burden of autism spectrum disorders. Psychol Med. 2015;45:601–13.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Olusanya BO, Davis AC, Wertlieb D, Boo N-Y, Nair MKC, Halpern R, et al. Developmental disabilities among children younger than 5 years in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet Glob Heal. 2018;6:e1100–e1121.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Rubenstein E, Daniels J, Schieve LA, Christensen DL, Van Naarden Braun K, Rice CE, et al. Trends in special education eligibility among children with autism spectrum disorder, 2002–10. Public Health Rep. 2018;133:85–92.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Vos T, Lim SS, Abbafati C, Abbas KM, Abbasi M, Abbasifard M, et al. Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet. 2020;396:1204–22.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Murray CJL, Abbafati C, Abbas KM, Abbasi M, Abbasi-Kangevari M, Abd-Allah F, et al. Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet 2020;396:1135–59.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kim YS, Fombonne E, Koh Y-J, Kim S-J, Cheon K-A, Leventhal BL. A comparison of DSM-IV pervasive developmental disorder and DSM-5 autism spectrum disorder prevalence in an epidemiologic sample. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2014;53:500–8.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Maenner MJ, Rice CE, Arneson CL, Cunniff C, Schieve LA, Carpenter LA, et al. Potential impact of DSM-5 criteria on autism spectrum disorder prevalence estimates. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014;71:292–300.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Bent CA, Barbaro J, Dissanayake C. Change in autism diagnoses prior to and following the introduction of DSM-5. J Autism Dev Disord. 2017;47:163–71.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Tessari L, Angriman M, Díaz-Román A, Zhang J, Conca A, Cortese S. Association between exposure to pesticides and ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder: a systematic review of the literature. J Atten Disord. 2022;26:48–71.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Kyu HH, Abate D, Abate KH, Abay SM, Abbafati C, Abbasi N, et al. Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 359 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018;392:1859–922.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Lai M-C, Lombardo MV, Ruigrok AN, Chakrabarti B, Auyeung B, Szatmari P, et al. Quantifying and exploring camouflaging in men and women with autism. Autism 2017;21:690–702.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Sasayama D, Kuge R, Toibana Y, Honda H. Trends in autism spectrum disorder diagnoses in Japan, 2009 to 2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4:e219234.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Schendel DE, Thorsteinsson E. Cumulative incidence of autism into adulthood for birth cohorts in Denmark, 1980-2012. JAMA - J Am Med Assoc. 2018;320:1811–3.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Arango C, Dragioti E, Solmi M, Cortese S, Domschke K, Murray R, et al. Evidence-based atlas of risk and protective factors of mental disorders: meta-umbrella review. World Psychiatry. 2021; In press.

  29. Dragioti E, Solmi M, Favaro A, Fusar-Poli P, Dazzan P, Thompson T, et al. Association of antidepressant use with adverse health outcomes: a systematic umbrella review. JAMA Psychiatry. 2019;76:1241–55.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Wu J, Morris JK. Trends in maternal age distribution and the live birth prevalence of Down’s syndrome in England and Wales: 1938-2010. Eur J Hum Genet. 2013;21:943–7.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Li YH, Wang YP, Dai L, Zhou GX, Liang J, Li Q, et al. The trend of national advanced maternal age woman proportion in hospital-based surveillance. Zhonghua Yu Fang Yi Xue Za Zhi. 2009;43:1073–6.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Oh Y, Bae J. Impact of changes in maternal age and parity distribution on the increasing trends in the low birth weight and very low birth weight rates in South Korea, 2005-15. J Prev Med Public Heal. 2019;52:123–30.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Mousiolis A, Baroutis G, Papantoniou N, Costalos C, Antsaklis A. Maternal age demographic trends in Greece from 1980 to 2008. J Reprod Med. 2013;58:246–55.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Wang W, Xie X, Yuan T, Wang Y, Zhao F, Zhou Z, et al. Epidemiological trends of maternal hypertensive disorders of pregnancy at the global, regional, and national levels: a population‐based study. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2021;21:364.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Heslehurst N, Ells LJ, Simpson H, Batterham A, Wilkinson J, Summerbell CD. Trends in maternal obesity incidence rates, demographic predictors, and health inequalities in 36 821 women over a 15-year period. BJOG An. Int J Obstet Gynaecol. 2007;114:187–94.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2. JAMA 2014;311:806–14.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Malik VS, Willet WC, Hu FB. Nearly a decade on—trends, risk factors and policy implications in global obesity. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2020;16:615–6.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  38. Mazza M, Pino MC, Keller R, Vagnetti R, Attanasio M, Filocamo A, et al. Qualitative differences in attribution of mental states to other people in autism and schizophrenia: what are the tools for differential diagnosis? J Autism Dev Disord. 2021. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05035-3.

  39. Hyman SL, Levy SE, Myers SM. Council on Children with disabilities SONDANDBP Identification, evaluation, and management of children with autism spectrum disorder. Pediatrics. 2020;145:e20193447.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Stuart EA, McGinty EE, Kalb L, Huskamp HA, Busch SH, Gibson TB, et al. Increased service use among children with autism spectrum disorder associated with mental health parity law. Health Aff. 2017;36:337–45.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Toft G, Liu C, Menon J, Schendel D, Loss G, Ehrenstein V. Assessment of educational attainment and employment among individuals with autism spectrum disorder in Denmark. JAMA Pediatr. 2021;175:601–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Narzisi A, Posada M, Barbieri F, Chericoni N, Ciuffolini D, Pinzino M, et al. Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in a large Italian catchment area: a school-based population study within the ASDEU project. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2018;29:e5–e5.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Chiarotti F, Venerosi A. Epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders: a review of worldwide prevalence estimates since 2014. Brain Sci. 2020;10:274.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Delobel-Ayoub M, Saemundsen E, Gissler M, Ego A, Moilanen I, Ebeling H, et al. Prevalence of Autism Spectrum disorder in 7-9-year-old children in Denmark, Finland, France and Iceland: a population-based registries approach within the ASDEU Project. J Autism Dev Disord. 2020;50:949–59.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. National Autistic Society. Benefits for autistic children. Natl Autistic Soc. 2020. https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/benefits-and-money/benefits/benefits-you-can-get/benefits-for-autistic-children. Accessed 28 March 2022.

  46. Sun X, Allison C, Wei L, Matthews FE, Auyeung B, Wu YY, et al. Autism prevalence in China is comparable to Western prevalence. Mol Autism. 2019;10:7.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Wan Y, Hu Q, Li T, Jiang L, Du Y, Feng L, et al. Prevalence of autism spectrum disorders among children in China: a systematic review. Shanghai Arch Psychiatry. 2013;25:70–80.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  48. Cantor J, McBain RK, Kofner A, Stein BD, Yu H. Fewer than half of us mental health treatment facilities provide services for children with autism spectrum disorder. Health Aff. 2020;39:968–74.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Hirvikoski T, Mittendorfer-Rutz E, Boman M, Larsson H, Lichtenstein P, Bölte S. Premature mortality in autism spectrum disorder. Br J Psychiatry. 2016;208:232–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Global, regional, and national burden of 12 mental disorders in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Lancet Psychiatry. 2022;9:137–50.

  51. Ahmad OB, Boschi Pinto C, Lopez AD, Age Standardization of rates: a new WHO Standard. GPE Discuss Pap Ser No 31. 2001:10–12.

  52. Fombonne E, MacFarlane H, Salem AC. Epidemiological surveys of ASD: advances and remaining challenges. J Autism Dev Disord. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05005-9.

  53. Bastiaansen JA, Meffert H, Hein S, Huizinga P, Ketelaars C, Pijnenborg M, et al. Diagnosing autism spectrum disorders in adults: the use of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) module 4. J Autism Dev Disord. 2011;41:1256–66.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Grzadzinski R, Dick C, Lord C, Bishop S. Parent-reported and clinician-observed autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): implications for practice under DSM-5. Mol Autism. 2016;7:7.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  55. Havdahl KA, Hus Bal V, Huerta M, Pickles A, Øyen A-S, Stoltenberg C, et al. Multidimensional influences on autism symptom measures: implications for use in etiological research. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2016;55:1054–1063. e3

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  56. Matsuo J, Kamio Y, Takahashi H, Ota M, Teraishi T, Hori H, et al. Autistic-like traits in adult patients with mood disorders and schizophrenia. PLoS One. 2015;10:e0122711.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  57. Turban JL, van Schalkwyk GI. ‘Gender Dysphoria’ and autism spectrum disorder: is the link real? J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2018;57:8–9.e2

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Marco Solmi, Minjin Song, Dong Keon Yon, Seung Won Lee.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ontario, ON, Canada

    Marco Solmi

  2. Department of Mental Health, The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, ON, Canada

    Marco Solmi

  3. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) Clinical Epidemiology Program University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Marco Solmi

  4. Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-Detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, King’s College London, London, UK

    Marco Solmi, Paolo Fusar-Poli & Joaquim Radua

  5. Centre for Innovation in Mental Health (CIMH), School of Psychology, Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Marco Solmi, Corentin J. Gosling & Samuele Cortese

  6. Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Minjin Song, Seoyeon Park & Min Ho Lee

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Yon Dong Keon

  8. Center for Digital Health, Medical Science Research Institute, Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Yon Dong Keon

  9. Department of Data Science, Sejong University College of Software Convergence, Seoul, South Korea

    Seung Won Lee

  10. Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Seung Won Lee

  11. Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Eric Fombonne

  12. Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Eric Fombonne

  13. Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences & Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Min Seo Kim

  14. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Jimin Hwang

  15. Adult Autism Center, Mental Health Department, Health Unit ASL Città di Torino, 10138, Turin, Italy

    Roberto Keller

  16. Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu/CIBERSAM/ISCIII, Universitat de Barcelona, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Sant Boi de Llobregat, 08830, Barcelona, Spain

    Ai Koyanagi & Louis Jacob

  17. ICREA, Pg. Lluis Companys 23, Barcelona, Spain

    Ai Koyanagi

  18. Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, 78180, France

    Louis Jacob

  19. Pain and Rehabilitation Centre, and Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences, Linkoping University, SE-581 85, Linkoping, Sweden

    Elena Dragioti

  20. Research Laboratory Psychology of Patients, Families & Health Professionals, Department of Nursing, School of Health Sciences, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, 45500, Greece

    Elena Dragioti

  21. Centre for Health, Performance, and Wellbeing, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, CB1 1PT, UK

    Lee Smith

  22. Department of Psychiatry, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, New York City, NY, USA

    Christoph U. Correll

  23. Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA

    Christoph U. Correll

  24. Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA

    Christoph U. Correll

  25. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Christoph U. Correll

  26. Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Paolo Fusar-Poli

  27. OASIS service, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Paolo Fusar-Poli

  28. National Institute for Health Research, Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, London, UK

    Paolo Fusar-Poli

  29. Department of mental health, AULSS3 Serenissima, Veneto, Italy

    Giovanni Croatto

  30. IMPACT (Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment) Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Barwon Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Andre F. Carvalho

  31. Department of Psychiatry, Yongin Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Yongin, Republic of Korea

    Jae Won Oh & San Lee

  32. Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    San Lee

  33. DysCo Lab, Paris Nanterre University, Nanterre, France

    Corentin J. Gosling

  34. Laboratoire de Psychopathologie et Processus de Santé, Université de Paris, Paris, France

    Corentin J. Gosling

  35. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Severance Hospital, Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    Keun-Ah Cheon

  36. Department of Primary Education, Evidence Synthesis Methods Team, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece

    Dimitris Mavridis

  37. Faculté de Médecine, Paris Descartes University, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France

    Dimitris Mavridis

  38. Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, 813, Taiwan

    Che-Sheng Chu

  39. Center for Geriatric and Gerontology, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, 813, Taiwan

    Che-Sheng Chu

  40. Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 807, Taiwan

    Che-Sheng Chu

  41. Department of Psychiatry, Beitou Branch, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan

    Chih-Sung Liang

  42. Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, 11490, Taiwan

    Chih-Sung Liang

  43. Imaging of Mood- and Anxiety-Related Disorders (IMARD) Group, Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi I Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain

    Joaquim Radua

  44. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatric Research and Education, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Joaquim Radua

  45. AP-HM, Aix-Marseille University, CEReSS-Health Service Research and Quality of Life Center, Fondation FondaMental, Marseille, France

    Laurent Boyer & Guillaume Fond

  46. Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jae Il Shin

  47. Clinical and Experimental Sciences (CNS and Psychiatry), Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Samuele Cortese

  48. Division of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Samuele Cortese

  49. Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, New York University Child Study Center, New York City, NY, USA

    Samuele Cortese

  50. Solent NHS Trust, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Southampton, UK

    Samuele Cortese

Authors
  1. Marco Solmi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Minjin Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yon Dong Keon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Seung Won Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Eric Fombonne
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Min Seo Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Seoyeon Park
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Min Ho Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Jimin Hwang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Roberto Keller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Ai Koyanagi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Louis Jacob
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Elena Dragioti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Lee Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Christoph U. Correll
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Paolo Fusar-Poli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Giovanni Croatto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Andre F. Carvalho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Jae Won Oh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  20. San Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  21. Corentin J. Gosling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  22. Keun-Ah Cheon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  23. Dimitris Mavridis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  24. Che-Sheng Chu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  25. Chih-Sung Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  26. Joaquim Radua
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  27. Laurent Boyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  28. Guillaume Fond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  29. Jae Il Shin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  30. Samuele Cortese
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed and approved the study’s protocol. MS and SC created the first draft of the manuscript. MS, DY and SL analysed data. MS, JS, and SC provided overall guidance. All authors read, edited, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jae Il Shin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

MS received honoraria/has been consultant for Angelini, Lundbeck. CUC has been a consultant and/or advisor to or has received honoraria from: AbbVie, Acadia, Alkermes, Allergan, Angelini, Aristo, Axsome, Damitsa, Gedeon Richter, Hikma, IntraCellular Therapies, Janssen/J&J, Karuna, LB Pharma, Lundbeck, MedAvante-ProPhase, MedInCell, Medscape, Merck, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Mylan, Neurocrine, Noven, Otsuka, Pfizer, Recordati, Rovi, Servier, SK Life Science, Sumitomo Dainippon, Sunovion, Supernus, Takeda, Teva, and Viatris. He provided expert testimony for Janssen and Otsuka. He served on a Data Safety Monitoring Board for Lundbeck, Rovi, Supernus, and Teva. He has received grant support from Janssen and Takeda. He received royalties from UpToDate and is also a stock option holder of LB Pharma. SC is supported by the following grants from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR): RP-PG-0618-20003, NIHR128472, NIHR130077, NIHR203035, NIHR203684. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.

Ethics approval

We followed the standard procedure recommended to register additional publication from GBD2019 project after publication of capstone paper [18]. Our study was also approved by the Institutional Review Board at Yonsei University Health System for the data use.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Solmi, M., Song, M., Yon, D.K. et al. Incidence, prevalence, and global burden of autism spectrum disorder from 1990 to 2019 across 204 countries. Mol Psychiatry 27, 4172–4180 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01630-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01630-7

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links