The apparent rise in autistic people in the last 40 years

Question

I’m curious as to the seeming rise of autistic humans in the last decades.

Is it that it was just not understood and therefore not diagnosed/reported?

Are there environmental or even societal factors that have corresponded to this increase in cases?

In: Biology

Answer 1

There is a study which seems to suggest that prenatal exposure to air pollution can be linked to higher risk of autism in children.
study link: [https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP9509](https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP9509)