A new study says that people diagnosed with autism later in life might have a different type of autism than those diagnosed as children.
This study comes at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are spreading false claims about autism. They’ve said there is an “epidemic” and wrongly linked it to vaccines and common medicine like paracetamol.
The research supports the idea that autism isn’t just one condition, but a group of different conditions that affect people in different ways.
Scientists from around the world worked together to find out if autism diagnosed in childhood is the same as autism diagnosed after age 10.
For many years, autism was thought to be something only diagnosed in young children.
But in recent years, doctors have improved how they identify autism. Now, more adults and older children are also being diagnosed.
The researchers said there are two possible explanations for this.
One idea is that everyone with autism has similar genetics, but some people are diagnosed later because their signs are milder and harder to spot when they’re young.
The other idea is that early-diagnosed and late-diagnosed autism are actually different types of autism.
The new study, published in the journal Nature, supports the second idea.
Researchers studied the genes of thousands of people with autism in Denmark and the United States. They found clear genetic differences between people diagnosed early and those diagnosed later.
Thomas Bourgeron, a co-author of the study, said that people diagnosed with autism later in life are genetically more like people with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).
The study also found that those diagnosed later are more likely to have mental health issues, such as depression.
Bourgeron said that people with autism are very different from each other. He believes care should be personalized for each individual.
Uta Frith, a respected professor not involved in the study, said she hopes that in the future, we will discover even more types of autism, each with its own diagnosis.
She added that when people talk about an “autism epidemic,” or try to find a single “cause” or “treatment” for autism, we must ask: “Which kind of autism are you talking about?”
