Pharmacists’ knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorder - a national survey

International studies show that pharmacists have unsatisfactory knowledge about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which can negatively interfere with the care provided. In Brazil, to date, no nationwide study has assessed pharmacists’ knowledge about ASD. Thus, this study aims to assess pharmacists’ knowledge about ASD in Brazil. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from June 2021 to August 2022. Pharmacists from the five regions of Brazil were selected by convenience and answered an online form available from June 2021 to February 2022 that collected sociodemographic data and assessed pharmacists’ knowledge and stigma about ASD using the Brazilian version of Autism Stigma and Knowledge Questionnaire (ASK-Q). The cut-off score ranges of ASK-Q consider the following pattern for adequate knowledge: Diagnosis (92.3%), Etiology (88.7%), Treatment (92.9%), and do not endorse stigma (99.01%). For the statistical analyses, descriptive statistics, the Mann-Whitney test, and the chi-square was used to compare unpaired samples and test to assess associations and categorical variables, respectively. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The sample is comprehensive and includes different age and socioeconomic groups, which contributes to a better generalization of the results. The use of convenience sampling may have allowed individuals with greater awareness of ASD to agree to participate in the study. Of the 413 participating pharmacists, most (81.1%) were women. Almost all participants demonstrated adequate knowledge across the Etiology (99.0%), Diagnosis (99.0%), and Treatment (98.8%) domains, which underscores a strong foundational understanding of ASD. All pharmacists did not endorse stigma (100.0%). Pharmacists who had a family member with ASD had the highest rates of correct answers in the Diagnosis domain ( p < 0.001). Pharmacists who had contact with a person with ASD had the highest rates of correct answers in the Etiology ( p = 0.004) and Diagnosis ( p = 0.002) domains. This study showed that most participating pharmacists had adequate knowledge about ASD. These results may contribute to the elaboration of strategies to improve knowledge about ASD, such as continuing education, integrating ASD training into pharmacy curricula or public health campaigns. Furthermore, they may influence public policies, clinical practices and future research in pharmacy and ASD care.