Autism diagnoses surge by 787% in 20 years

AUTISM diagnoses in England have jumped by 787 per cent in a generation.

A steep rise has been seen in female diagnoses, which experts suggested may have been missed in the past as women are better at masking symptoms.

The proportion of adults diagnosed has risen from one in every 100,000 to 20 in every 100,000. A study led by the University of Exeter, looked at data from more than nine million GP patients between 1998 and 2018. The research, in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, showed less than 9 per cent of diagnoses were in those aged 19 and over in 1998, but this leapt to more than 16 per cent of diagnoses in 2018. The study’s authors say this rise is likely to be caused by a greater awareness of hidden autism cases.