Socioeconomic characteristics of autistic children: a comparative study

Abstract

Background: Prevalence of autism is increasing and growing as an important public health problem. Prevention of autism is still a complicated issue. Thus, the management and rehabilitation of autistic children socially could be the main option. For which the role of socio-economic factors of the autistic children needs to be considered.Methods: This was a cross-sectional comparative study conducted among the autistic and non-autistic children to compare their socioeconomic characteristics. A total of 90 autistic children from two specialized schools and age-matched 180 non-autistic children from nearby schools were included in this study.Results: Overall the mean age of the children was 8.01±2.974 years. More than fourth-fifths (84.4%) of the autistic children were male. In comparison to non-autistic children, significantly (p<0.05) autistic children had small family size (4.79) and higher family income (Taka=34588). Higher education of both father and mother was also found to be significantly associated with autistic children. However, logistic regression analysis revealed that post-graduate education of the father had the strongest (6.4 times) ability to predict the occurrence of autism. The mean age of the mother at birth of autistic children was significantly higher (31.16 years) and logistic regression analysis revealed that higher age of the mother at birth had 1.3 times ability to predict the occurrence of autism. Moreover, the analysis revealed that mothers who were housewife 2.3 times more likely to predict the occurrence of autism.Conclusions: The study revealed that some socio-economic factors were significantly related to autistic children compared to those of non-autistic children.