Study Reveals Shifting Characteristics of ADHD and Autism Diagnoses in Young People
A recent study, led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and Aarhus University, indicates that the characteristics of children and teenagers receiving diagnoses for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have changed over the past decade. The research, published in JAMA Psychiatry, analyzed data from over 2.1 million children and adolescents in Denmark, comparing more than 71,000 diagnosed individuals with over 713,000 undiagnosed peers between 2012 and 2022. The study found that young people diagnosed with ADHD or ASD now more closely resemble the general population than those diagnosed ten years prior. For instance, the likelihood of low birth weight being associated with an ADHD or ASD diagnosis decreased from 54% at the beginning of the study period to 17% by the end. Similar declines were observed for premature birth and various socioeconomic disadvantage measures. This suggests that while previously identified risk factors are still relev...
