Reichtum und Luftverschmutzung erweisen sich als wichtigste Prädiktoren für die Autismusraten in den US-Bundesstaaten. Ein höherer durchschnittlicher Wohlstand und eine höhere Bildung in Kombination mit einer höheren Mikropartikelverschmutzung gehen tendenziell mit höheren Raten an Autismusdiagnosen in den Vereinigten Staaten einher.
Wealth and air pollution emerge as top predictors of state autism rates
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**Wealth and air pollution emerge as top predictors of state autism rates**
A recent study published in [*Psychological Reports*](https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941261457369) suggests that a state’s socioeconomic status and its levels of air pollution are the strongest predictors of its Autism Spectrum Disorder prevalence. The research provides evidence that higher average wealth and education, combined with higher microscopic particle pollution, tend to align with higher rates of autism diagnoses across the United States. These findings offer a new perspective on how broad environmental factors interact with regional health trends.
Together, SES and air pollution accounted for 55.7 percent of the variance in autism rates across the fifty states. Variance refers to how much the numbers fluctuate from the average. This means that more than half of the differences in autism rates from state to state can be explained just by looking at their socioeconomic standing and air quality.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00332941261457369
If that is what’s doing I’m sure micro plastics have also something to do with it.
Wealth and pollution – otherwise known as living in a city?
Could it also mean that wealthier people tend to have better access to healthcare which in turn leads to better, more thorough mental health diagnoses?
The places where people live are where you find more people with x.
This feels as BS as Tylonal, especially for just „being on the spectrum“ which seems a lot more correlated to genetics.
I think we can all get why pollution might have an affect but wealth?
Are more rich people autistic on average. Silicon Valley is full of founders, coders, and savants making bank.
Is it that rich people are more educated and spot this in their kids?
Do they just have more money to do the tests?
Are their fancy schools better equipped to recognise symptoms?
How many of them are trying to get them into Ivy League schools and want the leg up a diagnosis might give them on applications [any else watching The Audacity??]
Air pollution = Prenatal inflammation = Higher autism rates.
Higher income = Better odds of a correct diagnosis.
> Higher average wealth and education
A result of assortative mating, perhaps? Two highly-educated persons who are both somewhere on the spectrum meet, marry, and produce children on the spectrum?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31200929/
It would be fascinating to compare these state-level results with data from countries that have universal healthcare. If the SES effect shrinks there while pollution remains significant, that could reveal a lot about the role of diagnostic access
The research methods in this are not up to standard. There isn’t an identification strategy to allow a causal interpretation, just controlling for potential risk factors in a regression (and then the second stage regression after controlling for one factor, which I’m pretty sure is a problematic approach). So take this study with a huge grain of salt.
Correlation is not necessarily causation. what about parental age? methods of testing? age of testing?
The other factor besides willingness to get diagnosed without reading the article would probably be age of having children. Well off people tend to have kids later and later in life.
Could it be that people who postpone children due to their career and education have higher risks of autism due to age related factors?
Exposure to air pollution often is correlated with poverty, and thus with higher risk of exposure to lead, mercury, and who knows what else, as well as more questionable nutrition. That story may not be as simple as it sounds.
we already know that when lead was in gasoline and in paints, there were noticeable behavioral and cognitive issues with children. some say the removal of lead has led to an increase in IQs and a decrease in violence. This can be confirmed b/c when the US did it it wasn’t in one go so it has a changing criteria design, across settings and time. You can also see this world wide.
As someone who works with children with developmental disorders, the ones with the most impacted diagnosis are the ones that live in rural areas in the farming communities. What did i notice that these cases have in common, fertilizer is spread and people live in between these fields, these people were kids picking fruits with their parents breathing in pesticides and fertilizer, it wouldn’t surprise me that pollutants haven’t trigger epigenetic changes or exacerbated disorders.
Wealthy people have children later. It’s the age of the parent at conception that’s likely the causal factor.
The wealthier tend to get their kids diagnosed. You can see the ones that aren’t diagnosed doing takeovers and swerving their bikes in front of cars.
I have long suspected that autism causes air pollution and greater wealth, so it’s great to finally be vindicated
I live in the middle of nowhere. Pollution levels theoretically should be lower where I was raised. In the countryside as well. My father was in his early twenties. I’m still autistic and both of my parents have autistic traits. I simply don’t buy these conclusions, but I’m open to other environmental factors as my parents were raised in the same town as me. However, my brother isn’t autistic but exhibits some of the awkward mannerisms my parents have that I consider autism markers. I think it’s a complicated topic that we are still decades from understanding.
Edit: Perhaps worth noting that I wasn’t born in the same location as all three of them, but they all share the same birth city. So its possible I’ve been exposed to pollutants in my first year of life, or prenatally, that my family members were not exposed to during that development stage.
I’ve long had a theory that both neurodivergence and diverse sexual orientations aren’t evolutionary glitches to be „cured,“ but are actually highly adaptive strategies for human survival, migration, and population stability.
From an anthropological perspective, traits associated with autism—such as deep systemizing, hyper-focus, and a preference for low-stimulus environments—align closely with what researchers call the **“Solitary Forager Hypothesis.“** Instead of thriving in dense, highly social, overpopulated hubs, these „specialist“ ancestors likely thrived by migrating outward, seeking low-density sanctuaries, and pioneering new territories or technological innovations. Once these specialists established a new foothold, a new cycle of migration and population would begin.
We see a similar evolutionary logic with queerness. Evolutionary biologists often point to the **Kin Selection Hypothesis** and the **Fraternal Birth Order Effect**. These concepts suggest that as a population or family unit grows denser, nature introduces variations that shift focus away from direct reproduction and toward community altruism, resource allocation, and stabilizing the group (helping the population manage its K-selection curve).
Ultimately, a lot of modern society approaches autism and queerness as deviations from a norm. But if you look at our history, human biodiversity is a feature, not a bug. These variations have historically provided the exact specialized skills and social structures responsible for some of humanity’s greatest achievements.
—
**Sources / Further Reading:**
* **On Autism & Evolutionary Migration:** Reser, J. E. (2011). *Conceptualizing autism spectrum disorders as a consequence of competing evolutionary strategies.* Medical Hypotheses. (This paper outlines the „Solitary Forager Hypothesis“).
* **On Neurodivergent Specialists in History:** Spikins, P., et al. (2016). *Are there alternative adaptive strategies to human pro-sociality? The role of collaborative fitness in the evolution of autism.* Time and Mind. (Details how early human societies thrived by integrating the specialized technological and mapping skills of autistic individuals).
* **On Evolutionary Queerness & Population:** Wilson, E. O. (1975). *Sociobiology: The New Synthesis.* (Introduced the Kin Selection framework for non-reproductive traits).
* **On Birth Density Mechanisms:** Bogaert, A. F. (2006). *Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men’s sexual orientation.* Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Deals with the Fraternal Birth Order Effect as a biological response to family/population density).
Wealth makes sense because often times poor people don’t go to the doctor even in emergencies. Let alone for an autism diagnosis which will do nothing but cost more money to get treatment
Rich people test more. Thats the reason.
Poor people must suffer in confusion.
I wonder how much the age of the parents play into it. Wealthier people tend to have kids later in life and that does increase the chances.
What do you think bout that RFK?!
Going to leave this right here:
https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
Correlation ≠ causation
What if autism causes wealth? See: the tech industry
Source – I’m 2/2 on that front.