Autism – A brief update

Abstract

Autism is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that involve definite impairments in social interactions, disturbance in language, and a stereotyped pattern of behaviour. These clinical features are described as the core symptoms. The condition represents a very large number of diseases and syndromes that are individually rare. Therefore, most people will refer to autism in the plural – autisms. The prevalence of autism has increased incredibly in the last three decades. However, although the number of people diagnosed with autism has increased, this is not the same as saying that there is an increase in the number of cases of autism. Most likely, many children and adults 40–50 years ago had autistic behaviour that went under other diagnoses. The cause of the autistic features has been thoroughly discussed for many years and has been the subject of many research activities. The dominant view today is that genetic and environmental factors mainly cause autism. In this article we want to give a brief status quo of the clinic, epidemiology and causes of autism.