Girls Diagnosed Later Than Boys With Autism: Could Less Severe Symptoms Be The Reason?

Statistics show that roughly 1 in 68 children will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While more male patients are diagnosed than female counterparts, researchers are examining just how it can be more difficult to diagnose female patients. Researchers found, overall, that females exhibit less severe symptoms.

"This suggests that girls with ASD, as well as perhaps older women with this disorder, differ from males in key symptoms and behaviours, particularly around social interactions," said Paul Lipkin, director of the interactive autism network at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland, in a news release. 

For the study, researchers analyzed data from an online registry that includes close to 50,000 individuals and family members affected by an ASD. Researchers took into account the age that both boys and girls were diagnosed with autism for 9,932 children, and Social Responsiveness Scale data from 5,103 children, which identifies the presence and severity of social impairment.

In their data review, they found that girls were more likely to be diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders, such as an ASD impacting the development of certain skills with a mean age of four years compared to 3.8 years for boys .

Furthermore, they also discovered that girls seemed to struggle more with social cognition, or the ability to interpret social cues while boys had troubles with mannerisms such as repetitive behaviors like hand flapping.

"At the present time, autism screeners are not designed to look at boys and girls differently. This and other studies suggest that such may be needed, particularly around social skill development," Dr. Lipkin concluded, via Fox News. "So parents, pediatric clinicians, therapists, educators now should give careful consideration to girls who are having difficulties in social situations and assist these girls early."

More information regarding the findings were presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego.