The Growing Challenge of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Comprehensive Review of Etiology, Diagnosis, and Therapy in Children

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and other behavioral issues. It is one of the world's fastest growing health challenges. In the recent 40 years, research on autism has focused heavily and a rapidly growing number of discoveries has elucidated. The global prevalence of ASD has surpassed 1%, prompting governments, healthcare providers, and schools to create policies or programs that address this challenging issue. Here, this paper presents a comprehensive review that summarizes the progress of etiology, diagnosis and therapy of autism in children. Finally, the paper summarizes the current status of autism research, looks forward to future research directions, and calls for more research to explore the pathogenic mechanisms, diagnostic basis, and therapeutic methods of autism.