Autism Spectrum Disorder during Five Years in Eastern Libya and Food Choices to Improve the Conditions

Abstract

Healthy diet choices may improve health and skills of children with autism. The presentstudy aimed to illustrate the frequency of autism spectrum disorder in Libya, to demonstrateeffect of sex and age variables on children with autism and explain a specific dietary programwith important recommendations to progress the abilities and skills. 275 suspected cases ofautism spectrum disorder were documented during 2012 to 2017 in Tobruk NationalAssociation for Autism. Only, 241 cases (183 males and 58 females) aged from 3 to 20 yearsold were diagnosed to confirm the incidence of autism or not and were statistically analyzed.Among 241 cases, 167 (69.3%) (121 males and 46 females) only have autism spectrumdisorder, whereas, 74 cases (30.7%) have no autism condition. Results showed that boys wereapproximately more three times than girls to have autism. There was statistically significantassociation between males and females for getting autism spectrum disorder (P= 0.019).Autism can affect both genders, but it may be more specific for males than females. Also,results revealed that there was no evidence of a statistically significant relationship betweenthe incidence of autism in males and females according to their age (p = 0.218). This pointups that there is no specific autism incidence according to age because autism may occurfrom the birth. There is no treatment for autism, but mixed factors may help to improve theconditions such as introducing adequate nutrition to the child with a combined effort ofcountry and institution with parents to enhance the skills, abilities and activities of childrenwith autism.