BACKGROUND: Referrals to the Greater Glasgow Community @entity2438 Team (CAT) made before the @entity1 's sixth birthday were analysed to obtain an estimation of the proportion of @entity1 in Greater Glasgow with childhood @entity2438 and investigate whether there were any variations in diagnosis rates, or in age at referral and diagnosis, depending on deprivation or geographical location. METHODS: An analysis was made of the database recording referrals to Greater Glasgow CAT, between 2004 and 2007 inclusive, of @entity1 referred by age 6 years, comprising 584 cases. Cumulative incidence was calculated for childhood @entity2438 . Ages at referral and diagnosis were also analysed. RESULTS: For this subset of @entity1 , there were 246 diagnosed cases of childhood @entity2438 , a cumulative incidence from 2004 until 2007 of 11.1 per year per 10,000 @entity1 aged 0-6 years. Of @entity1 with an eventual diagnosis of @entity2438 by age 6, 72% were referred by the age of 4 years. Deprivation was found to have an association with referral and diagnostic rates, with higher rates seen in the most deprived. There was geographical variation in the cumulative incidence of @entity2438 . CONCLUSION: Given that the populations were not known to differ in any manner that would lead to a true variation, the geographical variation in the cumulative incidence of @entity2438 in @entity1 up to 6 years in Greater Glasgow observed in this study is likely to represent differences in the care pathway between areas. Such differences may also explain the observed association with deprivation. Reasons for the variation are being explored.

XXXX in Glasgow: cumulative incidence and the effects of referral age, deprivation and geographical location.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['child', 'children'] @entity2438 :: ('MESH:D001321', 'Disease') :: ['autism', 'Autism']
@entity2438 :: (MESH:D001321,Disease) :: ['Autism']
