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Two new theories of autism: hyper-systemising and assortative mating

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Prof. S Baron-Cohen
Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Douglas House, 18b Trumpington Road, Cambridge CB2 2AH, UK; sb205@cam.ac.uk

Keywords: autism; assortative mating

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The autistic spectrum comprises four subgroups: Asperger’s syndrome (AS),^1,2 and high, medium, and low functioning autism.³ They all share the phenotype of social difficulties and obsessional interests.⁴ In AS, the individual has normal or above average IQ and no language delay. In the three autism subgroups there is invariably some degree of language delay, and the level of functioning is indexed by overall IQ.^* These four subgroups are known as autism spectrum conditions (ASC).

Williams and colleagues⁵ searched electronic databases and bibliographies to carry out a meta-analysis of 42 studies of prevalence of autism spectrum conditions (ASC). From this, their most generous estimate was 20 per 10 000, or 0.2%. Harrison and colleagues⁶ used the "capture–recapture" technique in Lothian, Scotland, and their prevalence estimate was 44.2 per 10 000, or 0.44%. This corresponds to 1 child in 225. These estimates are clearly much higher than was the case in . . . [Full text of this article]

Relevant Articles

Prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in Lothian, Scotland: an estimate using the "capture–recapture" technique

M J Harrison, A E O’Hare, H Campbell, A Adamson, and J McNeillage
Arch. Dis. Child. 2006 91: 16-19. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Baron-Cohen About 1% of children in the South Thames region have an autistic spectrum disorder Evid. Based Ment. Health, February 1, 2007; 10(1): 28 - 28. [Full Text] [PDF]

				J M Howard and S Baron-Cohen This could be due to maternal testosterone... * Author's reply Arch. Dis. Child., July 1, 2006; 91(7): 622 - 622. [Full Text] [PDF]

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