Hacker News Reader

That's the whole point.

It's not like they took the age 5 at random, it's literally what was used in the study

there are other factors here. Children diagnosed with autism at the age of 5 must be adults now to determine if they can live alone. So they were diagnosed at minimum 13 years ago, with many diagnosed much earlier. Autism diagnostics is much more common now than it used to be, especially in families with higher economic status. Diagnostics tools evolved, more kids are tested and tests capture more kids. So I think this number will be completely different in 10-20 years from now. In my experience as a parent of ASD kid, many kids now considered ASD would not be considered ASD 20 or 30 years ago.

The stat seems accurate on that basis. True, it may be read to imply more.