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Low but Increasing Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in a French Area from Register-Based Data

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Abstract

Register-based prevalence rates of childhood autism (CA), Asperger’s syndrome (AS) and other autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were calculated among children aged 7 years old of the 1997–2003 birth cohorts, living in four counties in France. The proportion of children presenting comorbidities was reported. 1123 children with ASD were recorded (M/F ratio: 4.1), representing an overall prevalence rate of 36.5/10,000 children (95 % CI 34.4–38.7): 8.8/10,000 for CA (95 % CI 7.8–9.9), 1.7/10,000 for AS (95 % CI 1.3–2.3) and 25.9/10,000 for other ASD (95 % CI 24.2–27.8). ASD prevalence significantly increased (p < 0.0001) during the period under study. The proportion of children with an intellectual disability was 47.3 %, all other comorbidities were present in less than 5 % of the cases.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in relation to this study.

Ethical Standards

The study was carried out according to the French regulations of individual privacy. Parents who agreed to participate signed an informed consent form prior to inclusion of their child the study. The National Commission on Informatics and Liberties (CNIL) authorized the treatment and digitalization of the nominative data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Register for Severely Disabled Children and Perinatal Observatory (RHEOP), 23 Avenue Albert 1er de Belgique, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Marit Maria Elisabeth van Bakel

  2. INSERM U.1027, 330 Avenue de Grand Bretagne, 31000, Toulouse, France

    Malika Delobel-Ayoub, Jean-Philippe Raynaud & Catherine Arnaud

  3. Paul-Sabatier University, 31400, Toulouse, France

    Malika Delobel-Ayoub, Jean-Philippe Raynaud & Catherine Arnaud

  4. Themas Team, UMR 5525, Joseph Fourier University, Domaine de la Merci, 38706, Grenoble, France

    Christine Cans

  5. Autism Resource Centre of the Rhone-Alpes Region, 3 rue de la Gare, 38521, St-Egreve, France

    Brigitte Assouline

  6. Department of Genetics and Procreation, University Hospital Grenoble, Avenue du Maquis du Grésivaudan, 38700, Grenoble, France

    Pierre-Simon Jouk

  7. DYCTIM Team, UMR 5525 TIMC-IMAG, Joseph Fourier University Hospital, Domaine de la Merci, 38706, Grenoble, France

    Pierre-Simon Jouk

  8. Department of Child Psychiatry, La Grave University Hospital, Place Lange, 31059, Toulouse, France

    Jean-Philippe Raynaud

  9. Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Purpan University Hospital, 31300, Toulouse, France

    Catherine Arnaud

Authors
  1. Marit Maria Elisabeth van Bakel
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  2. Malika Delobel-Ayoub
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  3. Christine Cans
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  4. Brigitte Assouline
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  5. Pierre-Simon Jouk
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  6. Jean-Philippe Raynaud
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  7. Catherine Arnaud
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Correspondence to Marit Maria Elisabeth van Bakel.

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van Bakel, M.M.E., Delobel-Ayoub, M., Cans, C. et al. Low but Increasing Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in a French Area from Register-Based Data. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 3255–3261 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2486-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2486-6

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