SynthesisAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2025
Who, when, where, and why: A systematic review of "late diagnosis" in autism.
Synthesis in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- "Who I am": understanding the self-identity process of autism in adults in the UK.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2026Article
- Age at Autism Diagnosis in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa): Exploring the Association With Family Well-Being.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Clinical Profile of First-Time Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in School-Aged Youth.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Feasibility and Acceptability of an AI-Driven Conversational Platform for Structured Autism History Taking and Referral Support: Mixed Methods Proof-of-Concept Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Delayed Diagnosis and Missed Opportunities for Early Autism Identification in Brazil: An Exploratory Scoping Review.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Wikipediautism: A Multilingual Analysis of Autism-Related Wikipedia Articles in Six Languages.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- The relationship between age of autism diagnosis and life satisfaction in adulthood.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- Article
- Gender differences in autism prevalence: origins of bias and its current scientific relevance.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Offenders with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Clinical Case Series and Diagnostic Considerations in Forensic Psychiatry.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- Article
- Transition clinic for neurodevelopmental disorders: preliminary findings from an interdisciplinary model for adolescence to adulthood.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- [Autism spectrum disorder today: critical reflections on hyperdiagnosis].Cadernos de saude publica · 2026Review
- Article
- Comparative Analysis of Autistic Women Across the Lifespan: Childhood vs. Adulthood Diagnosis.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Diagnostic challenges of autism spectrum disorder in women without intellectual or language impairments: a narrative review.Journal of medicine and life · 2025Review
- Polygenic and developmental profiles of autism differ by age at diagnosis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- A proposed algorithm for early autism screening in Polish primary care settings - a pilot study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
An autism diagnosis can be a critical milestone toward effective and affirming support. Despite the sharp increase in the number of studies focused on late diagnosis over the last 15 years, there remains no consensus as to what constitutes a late diagnosis of autism, with cutoffs ranging from infancy to middle adulthood. This preregistered systematic review evaluated (a) the field's current quantification of late diagnosis in autism, (b) how the threshold for late diagnosis varies as a function of demographic and population factors, and (c) trends over time. Of the 11,697 records retrieved, N = 420 articles met inclusion criteria and were extracted. Articles spanned 35 years (1989-2024) and included participants from every continent except Antarctica. Only 34.7% of included studies provided a clear threshold for "late diagnosis" (n = 146/420). Late diagnosis cutoffs averaged 11.53 years (range = 2-55 years; median = 6.5 years) with a bimodal distribution (3 and 18 years). The threshold for late diagnosis varied by participant location, F(5,140) = 10.4, p < 0.0001, and sample age, F(5,140) = 20.1, p < 0.0001. Several key rationales for age determinations emerged, including access to services, considerations for adult diagnoses, and data driven approaches. What authors consider to be a "late" diagnosis of autism varies greatly according to research context. Justifications for a specific late-diagnosis age cutoff varied, underscoring the need for authors to contextualize their conceptualizations.
Indexed as
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.