Prevalence of autism in children of Somali origin livingin Stockholm: brief report of an at-risk population. Basedon a study by Barnevik-Olsson M, Gillberg C, Fernell E: This workwas a follow-up study (birth years 1999-2003) of the prevalence ofautism in children of Somali background living in the county ofStockholm, Sweden. In a previous study (birth years 1988-98), theprevalence of autism associated with learning disability was foundto be three to four times higher among Somali children comparedwith other ethnicities in Stockholm. We examined all records ofchildren of Somali background, born from 1999 to 2003, registeredat the centre for schoolchildren with autism and learningdisability. The census day was 31 December 2009. The sampleprevalence of autism and PDDNOS (with learning disability) was0.98% (18/1836) in the Somali group compared with the 0.21% in thegroup of children of non-Somali origin.
- Do the data suggest a higher prevalence of autism in childrenof Somali background? (source: PMID:20964674 PubMed).
- In UK the prevalence of autism is 1%. Do the Swedish datasuggest a higher autism prevalence in children of Somali backgroundthan UK the prevalence?
