The Social and Phenotypic Heterogeneity of Autism: Identifying Clusters in a Large Population-based Sample

• In Event: 480 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 04. Autism

Abstract

Autism is a “spectrum” disorder characterized by myriad combinations of behavioral symptoms and severity, and a heterogeneous set of risk factors. Although the “heterogeneity” of autism is a truism, most research fails to methodologically account for it. In this paper, I identify and describe five typical autism subgroups in a population-level dataset consisting of the birth records of all children with autism born in California in 1992-2005. Using cluster analysis, I find groups of children with similar attributes on socioeconomic, biological, and autism symptom variables. These clusters represent consistent and coherent groups and reveal important associations between sets of characteristics. These clusters are also shown to have clear and meaningful temporal patterns, and particular autism subtypes have risen and fallen in relative size as the diagnostic context has changed. Administrative boundaries relevant to the diagnosis of and provision of services for autism also show variability in their cluster composition. Cluster analysis reveals not only way that social and biological factors combine to jointly create this heterogeneous disorder, but also how diagnostic patterns vary over space and time.

Author

• Christine Fountain, Fordham University