Do you think the ratio is really 50/50

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Is there really so many males and so little females with Aspergers. Or do you think like me it's about 50/50 but most females don't get diagnosed as they hide it better?

What's your opinion?

It's the same as the Autistic Disorder one. 4/5 to 1.

The 15/18 to 1 ratios of the past with AS are the suspect ratios people were looking funny at.

I've met a lot more guys who are on the spectrum or could fit the profile and only 3-5 girls.

Being feminine is about the antithesis of being on the spectrum. It stands to reason that there would be fewer women, for the same reason that it stands to reason that there are very few DD males. Beyond that, it would also help to camouflage those whose traits were less obvious to begin with.

What is that?

It's only 4:1 for those with an actual diagnosis. Because, supposedly, females can hide it, they end up under the radar. So, it is definitely possible that it could be 50:50.

I think that it probably is 50/50.

It doesn't really matter what I think. It could be 50/50, it could be 80/20 or it could be 65/35...the ratio could be anything. We will never know for sure because not every single person in the world has access to diagnostic services and it would be impossible to test everyone.

Actually I have talked to a well-known ASD researcher here in Canada and in the infant sibling study she runs as part of a bigger one in Canada, they are finding more of a ratio of 1 female to every 2.5-3 boys... much lower than the currently quoted 1:4.

Very well put.

Once we have a good testing strategy that isn't gender-biased, then a pool of five thousand or so subjects should tell us the real ratio. You don't need to test everybody to get an estimate to a very good degree of accuracy.

There are probably more males. Males tend to have more genetic variation in general because they don't have two X chromosomes canceling each other out. I don't think the ratio is nearly as extreme as the current count seems to show, though.

I think it probably is closer to 2:1 or maybe even 1:1 but I think that males may have more of the behavior issues and so they are diagnosed sooner and more frequently.

I think the ratio is dependent on the way society is set up. In society rite now the roles of women & men are not the same. We do have gender equality & all but men & women do play different roles in society generally. These gender roles are skewing the figures of AS. I suspect that if the gender roles wer reversed from the way they are now; the ratio of men to women Aspies would be very different. I think AS is more about being different from the norm. Aspies have problems because they can not conform to the NTs world & some of that involves the roles in society for men & women. We would probably never know the real ratio of AS men & AS women because the nature of AS is dependent on social things & social things change. Only way we could know for sure is if we find some kind of DNA or genetic link & test everyone.

Why do I get the impression that I'm sounding like a philosopher

The ratio of diagnosed male to diagnosed female is higher than the ratio in population surveys, so there are certainly girls who are not being diagnosed through the regular routes that boys are diagnosed. It is possible that their symptoms are less severe, that they have better coping mechanisms to mask those symptoms, or that there is a cultural bias to diagnose and treat behaviour in boys.

Even in population surveys (e.g. http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-dat ... urvey-2007 is small, but well designed) there is a significant excess of male over female.

Possibly autism is Y-linked or amplified by Y-linked factors.