男孩被诊断自闭症几率是女孩四倍

Why do boys get diagnosed with autism four times as often as girls?
为什么男孩被诊断出患有自闭症的几率是女孩的四倍？

New research, including some of the latest data from the International Society for Autism Research annual conference last week, addresses this question, one of the biggest mysteries in this field. A growing consensus is arguing that sex differences exist in genetic susceptibility, brain development and social learning in autism -- and they are meaningful to our understanding of the disorder and how it will be treated.
新近的一项研究对自闭症领域中这个最大的谜团之一进行了论证，该研究涵括了来自2013年国际自闭症研究协会(International Society for Autism Research)年度会议的一些最新数据。一个日益达成的共识是，在自闭症患者的遗传易感性、大脑发育和社会学习这些方面都存在着性别差异，这对我们了解自闭症、该如何对症下药意义深远。

Yale University researchers presented results showing that being female appears to provide genetic protection against autism. Meanwhile, scientists at Emory University showed in preliminary work that boys and girls with autism learn social information differently, which leads to divergent success in interactions with other people.
耶鲁大学(Yale University)研究人员展示的结果显示，女性自身似乎会针对自闭症提供一种基因上的防护。与此同时，埃默里大学(Emory University)的科学家在初期研究中发现，患有自闭症的男孩和女孩在了解社会信息方面的表现并不相同，这就导致了他们在与他人互动的效果上也会有差别。

The new data, together with previously published studies, suggest that sex should be taken into account in diagnosing and in creating individualized treatment plans, according to experts.
专家们称，最新的数据与之前发表的研究都表明，在自闭症诊断和制定个性化治疗方案时，性别差异这一因素都应该考虑进去。

Autism, a developmental disorder characterized by deficits in social skills and repetitive behaviors, affects more than 1% of the population. It has long been known to be diagnosed more often in boys.
自闭症是一种发育障碍性疾病，其症状是存在社交技巧障碍及重复刻板的行为方式。全球有超过1%的人患有自闭症。长期以来，人们认为这种病在男孩身上更为常见。

Yet girls often appear to have more severe autism. The ratio, about four boys to every one girl overall, becomes even more lopsided when intelligence is taken into account. At higher intelligence levels, boys with autism often outnumber girls eight or 10 to one, say researchers.
然而，患有自闭症的女孩其症状一般较男孩更为严重。全球来看，自闭症患者的男女比例约为四比一，若将智力因素考虑进去，该比值将会更失衡。研究人员称，在智力水平较高的年龄层中，这个比例通常为八比一到十比一。

Why this ratio exists and how much it is skewed by misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis in girls isn't clear. More and more, however, scientists think the sex distribution is meaningful.
为什么会有这样的比例存在？有多少女孩是被误诊了或是医生未能作出全面的诊断？这些问题目前都不得而知。尽管如此，还是有越来越多的科学家认为，这种性别分布意义重大。

'It's such an important biological clue -- why do we have this excess in boys?' said Geraldine Dawson, the chief science officer of Autism Speaks, a research funding and advocacy group.
研究基金和倡导组织自闭症之声(Autism Speaks)的首席科学长杰拉尔丁•道森(Geraldine Dawson)说：“这是一个非常重要的生物学线索──为什么男孩的患病率会超出女孩这么多？”

Sex differences in autism and related disorders were relatively ignored until recently and still aren't well understood. The small number of girls who have the disorder meant that studies often didn't include enough girls to be able to reliably examine sex differences. Often, girls were excluded from studies altogether.
表现在自闭症及相关疾病上的性别差异相对而言一直被人忽略，直到最近才得到关注，但人们仍未透彻地了解它。患有此病的女孩数量如此之少，这意味着众多研究一般没有囊括足够多的女孩，其在性别差异方面的分析也就不太可信。通常情况下，这些研究都将女孩完全排除在外。

Understanding sex differences is important to getting the right diagnosis and treatment, said Christopher Gillberg, a child and adolescent psychiatry professor at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Because experts' understanding of the typical features of the condition is primarily based on research with boys, girls may be missed or misdiagnosed, he said. Some evidence suggests that girls are diagnosed, on average, later than boys.
瑞典哥德堡大学(University of Gothenburg)儿童与青少年精神病学教授克里斯托弗•吉尔伯格(Christopher Gillberg)说，了解性别差异对作出正确的诊断和治疗至关重要。他说，因为专家们对该病典型特征的了解主要基于对男孩们的研究，女孩可能就会被漏诊或误诊。一些证据表明，女孩比男孩的平均确诊时间要晚一些。

In addition, the clinical picture for children with an autism-spectrum disorder is often complex. Most have other conditions as well, like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders, sleep problems or epilepsy, which may affect their functioning, Dr. Gillberg said.
吉尔伯格博士称，除此之外，患有自闭症谱系障碍的儿童，其临床现象通常也比较复杂。大多数孩子还患有其他疾病，像注意力缺陷多动症、睡眠问题或癫痫症，这些都可能影响他们的身体机能。

He and his colleagues evaluated 100 girls between the ages of 3 and 18 who had social or attention deficits. Forty-seven were diagnosed with autism. As well, 80% of those with autism also could be diagnosed with ADHD. Virtually all the girls had depression, anxiety and family relationship problems.
吉尔伯格和他的同事对100名存在社交障碍或注意力障碍的三到18岁女孩进行了检查。有47名女孩被诊断出患有自闭症，她们中又有80%的人可能同时患有注意力缺陷多动症。几乎所有的女孩都有抑郁症、焦虑症和家庭关系问题。