U.S. says autism rate 1 in 150

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By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

About one in 150 American children has autism, an urgent public health concern, said U.S. health officials Thursday who reported on the largest study done so far on the troubling disorder.

The new numbers, based on 2002 data from 14 states, are higher than previously reported.

Advocates said the study provides a sad new understanding of how common autism is, and should fuel efforts to get the government to spend hundreds of millions of additional dollars for autism research and services.

"This data today shows we're going to need more early intervention services and more therapists, and we're going to need federal and state legislators to stand up for these families," said Alison Singer, spokeswoman for Autism Speaks, the nation's largest organization advocating more services for autistic children.

The study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated an average autism rate 6.6 per 1,000. That compares with last year's estimated rate of 5.5 in 1,000.

The research involved an intense review of medical and school records for children in all or part of 14 states and gives the clearest picture yet of how common autism is in some parts of the country, CDC officials said.

However, those states are not demographically representative of the nation as a whole, so officials cautioned against using the results as a national average. The study doesn't include some of the most populous states like California, Texas and Florida.

Also, the study does not answer whether autism is increasing — a controversial topic, driven in part by the contention by some parents and advocates that autism is linked to a vaccine preservative. The best scientific studies have not borne out that claim.

"We can't make conclusions about trends yet," because the study's database is too new, said Catherine Rice, a CDC behavioral scientist who was the study's lead author.

Autism is a complex disorder usually not diagnosed in children until after age 3. It is characterized by a range of behaviors, including difficulty in expressing needs and inability to socialize. The cause is not known.

Scientists have been revising how common they think the disorder is. Past estimates from smaller studies have ranged from 1 out of every 10,000 children to nearly 1 in 100.

Last year's estimate of 5.5 out of every 1,000 U.S. children was based on national surveys of tens of thousands of families with school-age kids. That fit into a prevalence range found in other recent studies.

The CDC also has been developing an alternate way of measuring autism prevalence, building a network of university and state health departments for ongoing surveillance of autism and developmental disabilities. The study released Thursday is one of the first scientific papers to come out of that effort.

"This is a more accurate rate because of the methods they used," said Dr. Eric Hollander, an autism expert at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

The study involved 2002 data from parts or all of 14 states — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Researchers looked specifically at children who were 8 years old that year. They said most children with autism are identified for medical or educational services by that age.

The researchers checked health records in each area and school records when they were made available, looking for children who met diagnostic criteria for autism. They used those numbers to calculate a prevalence rate for each study area.

The rates varied from 3.3 per 1,000 in the study site in Alabama, which was made up of the state's 32 northernmost counties, to 10.6 in the site in New Jersey, which involved four counties, including metropolitan Newark.

Researchers say they don't know why the rate was so high in New Jersey. They think the Alabama rate was low at least partly because researchers had limited access to special education records there.

[ChristinaM 0]

Or perhaps the US is getting more trigger-happy in diagnosing autism. I don't deny that as disorders become better known about they become more widely diagnosed, but I think there's a lot of parental pressure for a badly-behaved or ill-adjusted child to be labelled "autistic", "ADD" or "ADHD" (amongst other things) in order to excuse a certain amount of bad parenting.

JMHO, of course.

[Arazia 0]

Personally, I would be curious as to if these numbers include those with Asperger's syndrome or high functioning autism. Both are conditions that only began to be diagnosed within the past twenty years or so when there started to be some recognition for autism being a spectrum disorder, where different people have different levels of symptoms and such.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who just see this as the 'flavor of the day' diagnosis, which makes it difficult for people who have legitimate disabilities to get help. A lot of people who were overlooked as children because they weren't quite the stereotype of autistic are now getting diagnosed with Aspergers or HFA as adults, often times when it is too late to do much good.

Of course, I come from a slightly different perspective than most, I suppose. My first boyfriend was diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of thirty. My fiance' was diagnosed when he was a child. I've been to support groups at the local autism society. I've seen the people who go through this. Some will never be able to live on their own, but some have successful lives as long as they learn to adapt early.

[DeadPoolX 9]

I have a couple of theories...

One, as Christina said, it could just be that the United States is diagnosing more children with autism than in the past. Two -- and this is a controversial idea -- more couples are waiting to have children later in life. It's a known medical fact that when the mother is past 35 years of age, the possibility of complications (including physiological and mental disorders) grows exponentially. I'm not trying to say "it's all the mom's fault" because it's not. There are a lot of factors that come into play and plenty of children are born to women who're over the age of 35 and are perfectly healthy. It's just that it's much riskier for both the mother and child when the mother is over 35.

I'm sure there are other possibilities beyond what I've thought of as well.

[Thingee 0]

I seriously doubt all the children being called autistic in these statistics are the stereotypical autistic child. I honestly wonder if they aren't using every child that has a disorder under the autism spectrum, or that may. I've been told that dyslexia is considered to fall under the autism spectrum by some.

To ChristinaM: I'm not seeking an argument. I don't disagree that ADD, and ADHD are overdiagnosed and overmedicated. I have a child that daydreams...she also transposes letters and words. It was suggested to me by her teacher that she be screened for a learning disability. The school deemed her ineligible for testing. The reasoning behind that would make this post a book. To make a long story short I had her independently tested. The results came back 'mild ADHD inattentive type, probable learning disability..furthing testing required' I shared these results with the school, and was told to get her medication for the ADHD. She was ineligible for LD services as she wasn't failing her classes.

That being said, when told my child was ADHD I shrugged and said 'we'll deal with it'. When told my son(3 at the time) may have autism I had to sit down, and very nearly cried right there at school. These days he's four and the official diagnosis is 'developmentally delayed with Asperger's symptoms'. We're hoping he dodges the official diagnosis, as he's improved rapidly with specific therapies.(No meds) He'll most likely always be the kid with quirks, but I don't want that label hanging over his head if we don't HAVE to have it.

Point being, I can't imagine any parent saying 'diagnose my kid with autism'.