MIDB Study Identifies Methods to Combat Gender Bias in Autism Diagnoses

A multidisciplinary study led by Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain scholar Dr. Catherine Burrows has demonstrated that earlier, improved screening for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may help correct for large gender differences in ASD diagnoses. Currently, male children are diagnosed with ASD four times as often as female children. The research team identified gender-based differences in the presentation of symptoms of ASD; once the team had corrected for those differences, they found that an approximately equal number of children were at risk for ASD. The Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain is a Consortium member center. Read the study in Biological Psychiatry and find more on the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain website.