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Autism & Health: A Global Research Library

Open, fully-sourced research on autistic people's health around the world: diagnosis, physical and mental health, life expectancy and access to care. Free to cite.

For charities & campaigners

Link to, cite and reuse anything here, including the charts. Every figure is sourced. Need the numbers as a spreadsheet? Get in touch.

Autistic people are more likely than almost anyone to be failed by health services that were not built with them in mind: diagnosed late or not at all, living with co-occurring conditions that go unrecognised, and dying younger than they should. None of that is inevitable, and none of it is a fact about autism itself. It is a gap in recognition, support and care, and the evidence shows it can close.

This library brings together what published research, national statistics and autistic-led organisations have found, from many countries, in one place. Every figure is checked against its original source and cited, so charities, campaigners, clinicians and journalists can use it with confidence.

7 studies

Prevalence & diagnosis

Prevalence & diagnosis The Diagnosis Gap: Why Autistic Girls and Women Are Identified Later Screening studies put the autism male-to-female ratio nearer 3:1 than 4:1, and girls are diagnosed years later than boys in England and Sweden. With sources. Read the study Prevalence & diagnosis Noticed at Two, Diagnosed at Five: Age at Autism Diagnosis Around the World Parents first raise concerns at about 2, yet autism is diagnosed at about 5 on average worldwide, and later for many girls and some families. With sources. Read the study Prevalence & diagnosis How Many People Are Autistic? Why Estimates Range from Under 1% to Over 3% An estimated 1 in 127 people worldwide are autistic, yet child estimates run from under 1% to over 3%, a spread researchers link mainly to how autistic people are counted. With sources. Read the study Prevalence & diagnosis Diagnosed at Last: The Autistic Adults Identified Decades Late An estimated 92–96% of autistic people aged 50+ in England may be undiagnosed, as adult diagnoses rise fastest in the UK, US and Denmark. With sources. Read the study Prevalence & diagnosis Not Just England: Autism Assessment Waits Run to Years in Many Countries From a 76-week average median wait for children in Scotland to 21,782 children overdue in Ireland, autism assessment waits far exceed guideline benchmarks. With sources. Read the study Prevalence & diagnosis The Global Autism Gap: Most Autistic People Live Where Support Is Scarce About 4 in 5 of the world's 61.8 million autistic people live outside the richest countries, where child mental health staff can be 90 times scarcer. With sources. Read the study Prevalence & diagnosis Who Gets Identified as Autistic? Race, Ethnicity and Unequal Recognition In the US, 52.8% of autistic Black 8-year-olds also had an intellectual disability vs 32.7% of autistic White children, a sign of who is still missed. With sources. Read the study

6 studies

Physical health

Physical health Epilepsy in Autistic People: One in Ten, Rising to One in Five Adults About 1 in 10 autistic people has epilepsy (19% of autistic adults), far above general-population rates. Age, intellectual disability, early death and SUDEP, and what good care means. With sources. Read the study Physical health Shorter, More Broken Nights: The Evidence on Sleep and Autism Questionnaires find sleep problems in 36–73% of autistic children, 13% of autistic people have a diagnosed sleep-wake disorder, and sleep monitors confirm the gap. With sources. Read the study Physical health Autism and Gut Health: Common, Persistent and Too Often Missed About half of autistic children have gut symptoms, at 3.64 times the odds of peers, and the gap persists into older age. Why pain is missed, and what care should look like. With sources. Read the study Physical health Autism and Learning Disability: About One in Three, and the Widest Health Gaps About a third of autistic people also have a learning (intellectual) disability. How that has changed, the health gaps they face, avoidable deaths and what should change. With sources. Read the study Physical health More Diabetes, More Heart Disease: The Physical Health Gap for Autistic Adults Autistic people had 1.57 times the risk of diabetes in a 34-study meta-analysis. Records and surveys from seven countries show more long-term physical illness and gaps in screening. With sources. Read the study Physical health Autism and Oral Health: Mixed Evidence on Decay, Clear Evidence on Access Meta-analyses disagree about tooth decay in autistic people. The access data do not: autistic 12-16s in Scotland had 2.48 times the risk of extraction under general anaesthetic. With sources. Read the study

8 studies

Mental health

Mental health Anxiety in Autistic People: Common at Every Age, Too Often Overlooked 42% of autistic adults have had an anxiety disorder, and it is diagnosed 2.6 to 4+ times as often as in non-autistic peers, yet it is often missed and adapted help is hard to reach. With sources. Read the study Mental health Suicide and Autistic People: A Higher Risk, and a Preventable One Pooled across ten studies, autistic people's risk of death by suicide was 2.85 times that of non-autistic people. Who is most affected, what drives it and what would help. With sources. Read the study Mental health Autism and ADHD: Often Together, Too Often Diagnosed Years Apart Between a quarter and a half of autistic people also have ADHD, yet DSM did not allow both diagnoses until 2013, and the second often comes years later. With sources. Read the study Mental health Depression in Autistic People: Common, Often Early, Too Often Missed 37% of autistic adults have experienced depression, and in Sweden autistic young people had 3.6 times the risk of a diagnosis by 27. It is often missed and adapted care is hard to reach. With sources. Read the study Mental health Autism and Eating Disorders: A Common Overlap That Treatment Was Not Built For 29% of people with anorexia score above an autism screening threshold and ARFID is common in autistic children, yet eating-disorder care was not built for them. With sources. Read the study Mental health Autistic Burnout: Named by the Community, Only Now Being Studied Autistic people described burnout long before its first academic definition in 2020. A 2025 review found 48 studies, 30 qualitative: a consistent experience, prevalence unknown. With sources. Read the study Mental health Bullied at School, Exploited as Adults: The Victimisation of Autistic People Two meta-analyses put bullying of autistic pupils at 44-67%, and victimisation continues into adulthood, with links to anxiety and depression. With sources. Read the study Mental health Homes, Not Hospitals: 2,125 People Still in Mental Health Hospitals 2,125 people with a learning disability and autistic people were in English mental health hospitals in August 2026; 58% autistic without a learning disability, 48% there over two years. With sources. Read the study

4 studies

Across the lifespan

Across the lifespan The Mortality Gap: Autistic People Die Younger, and It Isn't Inevitable Across 12 studies, autistic people's all-cause mortality was 2.37 times the general population's. The gap by country, sex and intellectual disability, and what's preventable. With sources. Read the study Across the lifespan Growing Older Autistic: More Health Needs, Few Diagnoses, Little Research In England in 2018, just 1 in 6,000 people aged 70+ had an autism diagnosis. The evidence on physical health, Parkinson's, dementia and mental health in older autistic adults. With sources. Read the study Across the lifespan The Services Cliff: Autistic Young People and the Move to Adult Health Care Only 8.9% of autistic US teens got recommended preparation for adult health care, and support falls away after school. Evidence from the US, England, Canada and Europe. With sources. Read the study Across the lifespan Pregnant and Autistic: Higher Perinatal Risks, Too Few Adjustments Depression was recorded in 52.8% of pregnancies among autistic members of a Californian health system, against 15.6% of matched peers, and maternity care rarely adapts. With sources. Read the study

8 studies

Access, care & support

3 studies

Understanding the evidence

Understanding the evidence The Autism Health Gap: Greater Health Needs, Shorter Lives About 1 in 127 people worldwide are autistic. Across 12 studies, autistic people's all-cause mortality was 2.37 times the general population's. With sources. Read the study Understanding the evidence Vaccines and Autism: Over a Million Children Studied, No Link Found A Danish study of 657,461 children and WHO's 2025 review of 31 studies found no link between vaccines and autism; the 1998 paper behind the scare was retracted. With sources. Read the study Understanding the evidence Why People Are Autistic: Mostly Genes, Not Parenting, Vaccines or Diet Studies of 2 million children in five countries attribute about 80% of the variation in who is autistic to genes. Parenting, vaccines and diet do not cause autism. With sources. Read the study