Characterizing Health Disparities in the Age of Autism Diagnosis in a Study of 8-Year-Old Children

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often delayed from the time of noted concerns to the actual diagnosis. The current study used child- and family-level factors to identify homogeneous classes in a surveillance-based sample ( n = 2303) of 8-year-old children with ASD. Using latent class analysis, a 5-class model emerged and the class memberships were examined in relation to the child’s median age at ASD diagnosis. Class 3, with known language delays and a high advantage socioeconomically had the lowest age of ASD diagnosis (46.74 months) in comparison to Classes 1 (64.99 months), 4 (58.14 months), and 5 (69.78 months) in this sample. Findings demonstrate sociodemographic and developmental disparities related to the age at ASD diagnosis.