School Attendance Among Autistic Students in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A Population Cross-Sectional Study Using the Integrated Data Infrastructure.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Extant literature indicates autistic students have lower school attendance compared to the general population. However, there remains considerable heterogeneity between studies, a lack of large population-based studies beyond the UK and US, and insufficient consideration of age and sex differences in attendance rates. The aim of this study was to examine school attendance among autistic compared with non-autistic students including stratification by age and sex.

Methods

This was a national retrospective cohort study using population-level data on students aged 5 to 16 years in 2018. Autism was identified using diagnostic information contained within multiple health datasets. Regular attendance was defined as attending 90% or more of school half days. The associati

SUBMITTER: Bowden N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12003939 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature