Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnoses Increased for Females Since 2020

TUESDAY, Sept. 8, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses increased disproportionately among females after 2020, across age groups, while remaining stable or declining among males, according to a study published online July 22 in JAMA Network Open.

Erick Messias, M.D., Ph.D., from St. Louis University, and colleagues evaluated age- and sex-specific incidence trends of ASD from 2016 to 2024 to quantify the temporal patterns before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis included electronic health record data from 171,134 individuals who had at least one clinical encounter annually at a large health care system.

The researchers found that females received autism diagnoses a mean 3.4 years later than males (age at diagnosis, 15.7 years for females versus 12.3 years for male individuals). While male autism incidence remained stable or declined in 2016 to 2024, female incidence increased significantly post-2020 (annual percentage change [APC], 19.0 percent). In the pediatric cohort (aged 0 to 9 years), there was a decreasing annual incidence among males (APC, −2.0 percent), while there was an increasing incidence for females since 2020 (APC, 17.4 percent). In adolescent males (aged 10 to 18 years), incidence declined from 2016 to 2018 (APC, −29.6 percent) and stabilized from 2018 to 2024, while among adolescent females, autism incidence increased significantly between 2020 and 2024 (APC, 22.3 percent). In adult males (≥19 years), autism incidence showed a downward trend in the 2016 to 2024 period, while the APC from 2016 to 2024 for adult females was positive, though not statistically significant (APC, 8.0 percent).

“For clinicians, these data underscore the necessity of adapting screening practices to detect the subtler presentations of ASD in females and ensuring that diagnostic capacity extends beyond early childhood into adolescence and adulthood,” the authors write.

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