Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in China: A Nationwide Multi-center Population-based Study Among Children Aged 6 to 12 Years

Abstract

This study aimed to obtain the first national estimate of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Chinese children. We targeted the population of 6 to 12-year-old children for this prevalence study by multistage convenient cluster sampling. The Modified Chinese Autism Spectrum Rating Scale was used for the screening process. Of the target population of 142,086 children, 88.5% (n = 125,806) participated in the study. A total of 363 children were confirmed as having ASD. The observed ASD prevalence rate was 0.29% (95% CI: 0.26%-0.32%) for the overall population. After adjustment for response rates, the estimated number of ASD cases was 867 in the target population sample, thereby achieving an estimated prevalence of 0.70% (95% CI: 0.64%-0.74%). The prevalence was significantly higher in boys than in girls (0.95%; 95% CI: 0.87%-1.02% versus 0.30%; 95% CI: 0.26%-0.34%; P \ 0.001). Of the 363 confirmed ASD cases, 43.3% were newly diagnosed, and most of those (90.4%) were attending regular schools, and 68.8% of the Hao Zhou, Xiu Xu, Weili Yan contributed equally.Members of the LATENT-NHC Study Team are listed in the Supplementary Materials.

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“…Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects 1 in 54 (1.9%) of 8-year-old children in the US [1] , and 0.29% of 6 to 12-year-old children in China [2] . For this condition with increasingly rising prevalence and no known single cause or cure, comprehensive molecular diagnostic testing continues to reveal previously unidentified copy number and single nucleotide variants, reasserting the genetic heterogeneity of ASD and highlighting the difficulty of a molecular diagnosis for ASD [3] .…”

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“…Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by social and communication impairments, restricted interests, and repetitive behaviors ( 1 ). Approximately 18.5 per 1,000 children of 8 year-old children in the USA have ASD ( 2 ), and the ASD prevalence rate in China has been estimated to be 0.7% among children who are 6 to 12 years old ( 3 ). Moreover, ASD is the most common mental disability in China, according to national census data on individuals with disabilities ( 4 ); hence, the diagnosis and treatment of ASD has gained increasing attention in China.…”