Autistic adults were more likely than non-autistic adults to receive antidepressants, with higher doses and longer courses over time.
Researchers analysed UK primary care records for 172,242 autistic adults and 34,173,295 non-autistic adults between 1997 and 2023. They compared prescribing rates, reasons recorded for starting selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, doses and treatment-course lengths across autistic and non-autistic groups, including by sex and intellectual disability.
Prescribing, doses and course lengths increased in all groups. Prescribing was highest among autistic adults without intellectual disability and among females, while treatment courses were longest among autistic adults with intellectual disability.
How prescribing changed
In 2023, 30% of autistic adults had been prescribed an antidepressant, compared with 14.7% of non-autistic adults. Since 1997, antidepressant prescribing increased more among autistic adults, including more people starting treatment, higher prescribed doses of citalopram, fluoxetine and sertraline, and longer treatment courses.
Prescribing was highest among autistic adults without intellectual disability and among females. Courses lasting more than one, two and three years were most common among autistic adults with intellectual disability. Depression and anxiety were recorded less often as reasons for starting a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor in autistic adults with intellectual disability.
Evidence and caveats
This was a population-based cohort study using UK primary care records, including more than 34 million non-autistic adults and 172,000 autistic adults. It describes prescribing patterns over time but does not show that autism caused higher prescribing, that antidepressants were effective or ineffective, or that the medicines caused adverse effects. Recorded indications may not capture all clinical reasons for prescribing, and the abstract does not provide further detail on how representative the records were of people outside primary care or on other possible differences between the groups.
// Source
Autism Research · 2026 · DOI: 10.1002/aur.70360
Authors: Aws Sadik, Golam M. Khandaker, Antonio F. Pardiñas, Michael Lundberg, Brian K. Lee, Cecilia Magnusson, Dheeraj Rai, Paul Madley‐Dowd
Institutions: Karolinska Institutet, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, University of Bristol, NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Cardiff University, Drexel University, Centre for Palaeogenetics, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust
