Grant: Project Grant

It is harder to recognize autism in girls and women, compared to boys and men. In practice, this can mean that autism goes undiagnosed for longer and as a consequence is unsupported for longer in girls and women compared to boys and men. Girls and women on the autism spectrum have described many social and mental health challenges associated with delayed diagnosis of autism. However, no research has looked at how often this happens and what the impact is at a population level. This study aims to use anonymized health data for all Ontarians to understand more about the age when autism is first diagnosed in girls and women versus boys and men, as well as how potential sociodemographic (e.g., measures of poverty), medical (e.g., other diagnoses like epilepsy), and psychiatric (e.g., anxiety disorder) correlates of the recognition of autism may differ in girls and women versus boys and men. We will also explore how the timing of autism diagnosis relates to how people use health care and how such patterns differ in girls and women versus boys and men. This study is the first of its kind, using data for the entire province of Ontario to understand sex-related and gender-related health inequities in autistic people. The new knowledge learned from this study may help us to improve the recognition and care for autistic people, especially girls and women, in the Canadian population.