Table 2 Distribution of the number of tweets with relative description, sharing and sentiment analysis

1

Lockdown autistic—work—care—going school

Cope with autism during the lockdown: autistic people need care and attention. Parenting is difficult

12,588 (17.16)

17.86

(7.14–28.59)

2.65

(1.41–3.89)

48.7

36

15.3

2

Incredibly confused parenting—support autism families during pandemic

Need for family support to help their autistic children change routines during the pandemic

8,356 (11.40)

6.94

(5.75–8.13)

2.10

(1.77–2.42)

34.1

44.5

21.4

3

BBC news—coronavirus lockdown—autism awareness—lockdown autism—struggle living

BBC news about coronavirus lockdown; mental decline of several autistic people: awareness of autism needed to help those who struggle against COVID-19

7,550 (10.30)

10.42

(6.09–14.74)

1.97

(1.73–2.22)

30.4

48.7

20.9

4

Deal coronavirus—support autistic

Autism and isolation: How coronavirus is affecting kids on the spectrum and their parents. Guide to support the management of patients with autism during the coronavirus pandemic

6,453 (8.80)

11.19

(8.55–13,82)

3.80

(3.05–4.55)

41.6

40.3

18.1

5

coronavirus lockdown—researchers delay—coronavirus outbreak—coronavirus vaccine—coronavirus autism

Impact of the coronavirus outbreak on mental health of autistic people. Vaccine delays

6,140 (8.37)

6.22

(4.40–8.04)

2.39

(2.04–2.74)

35.8

40

24.2

6

autism awareness—crisis—autism & covid

Difficulties experienced by the autism community during the COVID-19 crisis and the impact on their organization: hard working to support and protect community throughout this crisis

5,301 (7.22)

4.25

(3.27–5.24)

1.68

(1.37–1.99)

32.4

39.9

27.7

7

Vaccine—covid vaccine—vaccine autism

Sarcasm on the covid vaccine. Some claim it causes autism

4,921 (6.70)

8.79

(6.89–10.69)

1.71

(1.29–2.12)

60.3

22.2

17.5

8

Italian allowed—play—park—autism allowed

Children with autism allowed to play in Italian park

4,703 (6.41)

7.25

(5.06–9.45)

2.72

(2.09–3.36)

34.9

41.8

23.3

9

Isolation—distancing—masks—autism social

Regression during lockdown of autistic people: "social pods" could alleviate isolation and may work well for the autistic community, whose members gravitate towards small groups of friends

3,374 (4.60)

8.73

(6.23–11.23)

1.99

(1.53–2.46)

31.3

48.6

20.1

10

autism cope—help autistic kids—great tips—tips help—coronavirus quarantine

Tips for helping autistic kids cope with the chaos and uncertainty of coronavirus

2,961 (4.04)

5.11

(3.19–7.04)

2.14

(1.51–2.76)

24.9

54.6

20.5

11

years old boy autistic—lockdown challenges

Boys of different ages with autism facing lockdown challenges in different ways

2,890 (3.94)

14.98

(7.77–22.19)

2.29

(1.57–3.01)

43

39.6

17.4

12

disability autism—mental health—learning disabilities

Guidance on mental health and wellbeing aspects of coronavirus for people with existing mental health difficulties, with learning disability or autism

2,549 (3.47)

6.96

(3.27–10.65)

4.57

(1.53–7.62)

55.2

34

10.8

13

Pharma—genetic—vaccines—end autism—epidemic autism

Someone refers to autism as an

epidemic, others say that it is absurd: it is about genetics

2,074 (2.83)

6.56

(4.43–8.68)

1.93

(1.15–2.72)

50.3

25.7

24

14

really badly suffer—autism charity—suffer anxiety depression—depression autism—help retweeting

Autistic people suffering from anxiety and depression by virus and autism. Helping with charity and retweeting

865

(1.18)

4.80

(2.84–6.75)

1.47

(0.93–2.01)

36.6

46.5

16.9

15

learning disabilities—coronavirus rules—disabilities world

Coronavirus rules relaxed for people with autism and learning disabilities

732

(1.00)

6.59

(2.32–10.86)

5.47

(3.49–7.44)

25.5

19.2

55.3

16

People carers—lockdown charities—asking support—disabled customers

Carers struggling to get food during lockdown: different charities asking to support disabled customers

523

(0.71)

3.99

(3.29–4.70)

1.50

(1.19–1.80)

7.3

91.2

1.5

17

BBC news—news coronavirus—autistic support

BBC news about coronavirus and autism. Extra support needed

470

(0.64)

4.85

(3.05–6.65)

3.42

(1.98–4.86)

27.2

61.7

11.1

18

Second wave—public urgently—calling act—impacted autistic—make plan action—coronavirus impacted

Coronavirus has impacted autistic people worse than the rest of the public. Urgent action is needed to have an action plan

364

(0.50)

1.63

(0.83–2.43)

0.85

(0.43–1.28)

85.2

11.5

3.3

19

vaccine manufacturers—asking vaccine—the covid vaxx—weed killer—vaccines glyphosate toxins

New study claims that glyphosate toxins, weed killer and/or aluminium could cause autism. Consumers asking the Vaccine Manufacturers to test

the COVID-19 vaccines for glyphosate and other toxins

281

(0.38)

0.54

(0.23–0.86)

0.27

(0.10–0.44)

5.7

90

4.3

20

critical outbreak—political cowardice—covid virus—second wave—diseases

Opinions on the expected effects of covid and people who want to keep isolating themselves until they get the right solution for COVID-19. Criticism to politicians who manage COVID-19

259

(0.35)

1.83

(0.53–3.13)

0.61

(0.22–0.10)

87.6

6.6

5.8

Total

73,354 (100)

p-value

 < 0.001

 < 0.001