Abstract
We aimed to estimate the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder between 2 and 4 years old in Riyadh, Saudi Arabi Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Saudi children aged 2–4 years between December 2017 and March 2018 at five different hospitals in Riyadh.
A Total of 398 children were included. The prevalence of ASD was estimated to be (2.51%, 1:40, 25 per 1000)), with a male to female ratio of 3:1. Conclusion: The estimated high prevalence rate of ASD is close to recent trends in international studies. Future population-based studies are required.
•In our targeted population, it was estimated that 1 out of 40 children had ASD.•The estimated high prevalence rate of ASD in Saudi Arabia is close to recent trends in international studies.•ASD was found to be more common in males than females in the Saudi population.