Autism rates now 1 in 68 U.S. children: CDC

[bananas]

Source: CNN

One in 68 U.S. children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a 30% increase from 1 in 88 two years ago, according to a new report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This newest estimate is based on the CDC's evaluation of health and educational records of all 8-year-old children in 11 states: Alabama, Wisconsin, Colorado, Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Arizona, Maryland, North Carolina, Utah and New Jersey.

The incidence of autism ranged from a low of 1 in 175 children in Alabama to a high of 1 in 45 in New Jersey, according to the CDC.

Children with autism continue to be overwhelmingly male. According to the new report, the CDC estimates 1 in 42 boys has autism, 4.5 times as many as girls (1 in 189).

<snip>

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/health/cdc-autism/

[NYC_SKP]

1. a 30% increase from 1 in 88 two years ago???

That doesn't bode well, it's either becoming epidemic and thus due most likely to some environmental factors, or the data is wrong and it's being misdiagnosed.

Or, some combination of these things.

[Godhumor]

2. Or it was never diagnosed in the first place n/t

[CSStrowbridge]

9. You are probably right.

You are probably right. People are being diagnosed with it, because the symptoms are better understood.

[proverbialwisdom]

13. Check it out.

http://pic.twitter.com/yiHBv7yDCa

"...the burden of proof is upon anybody who feels that there is NOT a real increase here in the number of kids affected."
- Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of National Institute of Mental Health and head of Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)

http://www.northjersey.com/news/report-new-jersey-s-autism-rate-is-the-highest-in-the-u-s-1.752693#sthash.XyuaB0ms.dpuf

“The increase could be a growing number of children with autism or better screening or a combination of both,” said Dr. Coleen Boyle, the CDC’s director of the national center of birth defects and developmental disabilities.

Related: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014766480

[img][/img]

[cprise]

17. 'Better Living Through Chemistry!'

No proof required!

[DesertFlower]

5. i agree. nt

[bananas]

14. Or is it the next step in evolution?

Will neurotypicals go the way of neanderthals and dinosaurs?

http://isnt.autistics.org/

[NYC_SKP]

16. My friend is doing her doctoral study (Education) on a related issue:

She'll love the site you included, " Tragically, as many as 9625 out of every 10,000 individuals may be neurotypical."



She's toying with autistic and sufferers of ADD and ADHD from an approach suggesting that atypical/anormative behaviors/conditions might actually be coping mechanisms, reactions to environment, and/or traits beneficial to a changing world.

She just got started with this, but the interest is based on her having worked with this population for her entire career.

You both might be onto something.

[Lars28]

19. ADD, ADHD and autism are maladaptive.

So is the political, economic and social system that encourages them.

[NYC_SKP]

20. Carry the implied trend out to its logical conclusion....

Where almost everyone is "suffering" from these "disorders" and the systems might naturally change.

I certainly agree, the systems are maladaptive and unresponsive (but to those few in power).

[kmlisle]

22. I have been thinking about this possibility for a while now

If Autism is a a genetic condition that is affected by multiple alleles (ie many genes combine to produce this and other types of social and mental behaviors) then the Autism spectrum makes sense because there are many combinations of genes that create that spectrum. Think hair and skin color and you will begin to get the idea here. Those are also multiple alleles and recombining the genes produces a lot of variability and a spectrum of traits. This also means that if there is an advantage for a person with Autism in modern society then the folks on the end of the spectrum that allows them to function reasonably well socially posses other advantageous abilities and represent selective pressure for that personality type and for those genes. Think engineers and scientists and IT types and you will have the group in your sights. That's a lot of people in the Creative Class who do well in modern environments. If more and more of these people are surviving well and reproducing then their children's genes will fall somewhere on the spectrum and the variations will produce more at both ends of that spectrum.

I think the position of the autism web site above is also an excellent comment on modern society as it gets more rigid and intolerant of children who don't fit its cookie cutter molds (think ed reform which really veers in this direction). Diversity is strength in nature not weakness. we are more prepared for coming changes as a human population when diversity is honored and accepted. And we obviously are not defining the advantages of autism along with its disadvantages in the current rigid world view.

Its just natural selection at work!

[skepticscott]

3. Not "has"

"has been diagnosed with" would be the more accurate way to put it. It's very unlikely that the actual rate of incidence (as opposed to the rate of reporting) has increased by 30% in 2 years.

[gordianot]

4. There is much more awareness of the diagnosis by professionals and the umbrella keeps getting bigger

in describing the Autism spectrum.....Years ago I worked in a small rural district that had 7 children in a two year span in a quarter mile radius of a long abandoned WWII era wood treating plant. It was strange they were all severe and very similar. At least that was the suspicion of locals; how do you prove it? Nothing like that has happened since in that area.

By the time I retired 5 years ago parents were coming in to schools asking for an autism diagnosis where a decade from that time they focused on ADD. The figure going around 5 years was 1 in 150.

[ffr]

6. Yep, 1 in 150 years ago. 1 in 110 in 2009

No cure for autism.

Environmental damage? Mercury in our fish? Toxins in the food supply and unnatural foods? Artificial sugary syrupy junk foods?

[mathematic]

7. These sorts of rates are worldwide

So something uniquely american (or otherwise not common worldwide) doesn't make a good candidate as a cause.

My guess is that this is a change in diagnostics more than a change in actual incidence.

[Lars28]

15. Except that autism seems to be gender-related.

So that suggests a genetic component.

[demigoddess]

32. not necessarily

boys only have one X chromosome, and on the X is some of the resistance to disease etc.(if I remember right) also if the X is damaged girls have another than can make up for the missing parts. Boys are more vulnerable to things, period.

[Lars28]

33. That's terrible.

Another piece of evidence against the existence of a just God. But then I suppose He tries to balance things out by making life worse for females in other areas of life, e.g., painful childbirth, male oppression, etc.

The total quantity of good and evil always adds up to zero.

Sigh.

[Yo_Mama]

24. I don't think there are more kids today with the syndrome

I think what's different is that kids are now being "diagnosed" with autism, whereas when I was a kid we were just "different" kids.

There are a lot of incentives both to classify kids in educational systems and for parents to get their kids slapped with the official label, so I think this is a bureaucratic phenomenon.

[mia]

8. New research

Listen to the NPR broadcast here.


The symptoms of autism may not be obvious until a child is a toddler, but the disorder itself appears to begin well before birth.

Brain tissue taken from children who died and also happened to have autism revealed patches of disorganization in the cortex, a thin sheet of cells that's critical for learning and memory, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Tissue samples from children without autism didn't have those characteristic patches.

Organization of the cortex begins in the second trimester of pregnancy. "So something must have gone wrong at or before that time," says Eric Courchesne, an author of the paper and director of the Autism Center of Excellence at the University of California, San Diego.

The finding should bolster efforts to understand how genes control brain development and lead to autism. It also suggests that treatment should start early in childhood, when the brain is capable of rewiring to work around damaged areas....




http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/26/294446735/brain-changes-suggest-autism-starts-in-the-womb

[proverbialwisdom]

12. Apparently only 11 subjects were included in the study, hardly the basis for the hype.

...according to the rigorous, science-vetting, informed autism parents. Seen on Twitter (multiple sources) last night. I recall it was mentioned that 'normal' children also may have this anomaly. They had a lot to say about the researcher's previous work, also, by the way.

[HockeyMom]

10. That is very true about boys

In the years that I have worked with autistic children, in two different states, only ONE was a girl. In one family both their sons were autistic, but their three daughters weren't.

[hoosierlib]

11. It's not an epidemic

The increased rate is a function of two things;

1) The definition has been expanded over the years and more people are looking for it

2) The average age of parents has been increasing steadily over the past 40 years as more and more couples have delayed child birth for economic or personal reasons. Over the same time period we have seen the rapid increase. While I understand this is purely correlation (much like CO2 contributing to climate change), there is some validity to this theory.

It is my opinion is that autism, much like downs syndrome, is related to gene mutations that take place within chromosomes with the parents as they age. The longer they wait, the higher the risk of gene mutations and thus a higher chance of autism. Have you ever met the parent of a child with autism that were under 30 (note a mother or father who is under 30 with a partner that is over 30 doesn't count)? I haven't and understand that this observation is purely anecdotal.

The recent study comparing child brain tissues only further bolsters my belief.

Additionally, why is autism given such a stigma? While there are extreme cases, we have gotten people like Temple Grandin who have contributed greatly to humanity.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. Nevertheless there is a high percentage of children with this autism

[hoosierlib]

25. Is that necessarilly a bad thing?

[liberal_at_heart]

29. I'm sorry I kind of chuckled when I read "this autism". It's like when people whisper "the Cancer."

I have a son with autism and while he does require additional education on social cues and a little more time to process what he learns at school, I promise you it's not that bad. He has many great attributes and strengths, and he laughs and plays and is happy.

[alp227]

21. "because vaccines" --Former Dr Andrew Wakefield nt

[Sunlei]

23. even 1 in 500 would be way to high!. 1 in 45! This disorder must have a profound effect on the

way our society functions. Just the 'theory of mind' issues could be why some people are radically attached to a religion or a political party. Unable to change, adapt or accept others opinion or diversity.

[Shivering Jemmy]

26. oh please

I am autistic. I am better adapted to where society is going than you neurotypicals.

[Sunlei]

30. Where is society going?

[Ghost Dog]

37. US/neocon/lib model model? Oligarchic, increasingly unequal, chaotic,

and extremely environmentally destructive. To the extent applied globally: Think of the middle ages, but with high technology. And a much smaller population, most of which will be living in controlled artificial environments, with protective gear needed in order to venture 'outside'.

[Sunlei]

39. a lot like the middle ages.

No focus on what the h. effects the brain development of the 2 month fetus. The entire society bickers over anything, might is right. 2 class system. Have nots, 'voiceless', the 'haves' eccentric in various unforeseen ways, no empathy for man, land or beast.

perhaps some other first world country will discover what chemical effects the fetus. The chemical will be banned around the world except in the USA. Here they'll jail the parents. ( it's probably the common alcohol or a combination, alcohol + ?.)

[Rex]

27. Being autistic does not automatically make you closed minded. For some it is just the opposite.

I think there is a very big misunderstanding from people that are not autistic.

[liberal_at_heart]

28. Did you seriously just say that?

[LeftishBrit]

31. So autistic people are to blame for everything wrong in society?

That is a horrible thing to say.

The 'theory of mind' problems associated with autism have nothing to do with an inability to accept other people's diversity. On the contrary, they lead to an inability to manipulate or deceive; and too often to being bullied and isolated as other people are unable to accept autistic or other disabled people's diversity.

THIS is what happened to a local autistic man:


http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/11112129.Government_admits_Mark_Wood_s_benefits_cut_before_he_starved_to_death__was_wrong_/


And you think that autistic people are the ones responsible for the problems in society??? On the contrary, people in power are responsible for the problems in society; and autism tends to make it difficult to seize power.

[Sunlei]

40. Of course not. I think plenty of "people in power" have autism.. 1 in every 68 or so.

[LeftishBrit]

41. Probably far, far less

Just as far fewer people in power are blind/ deaf/ suffering from depression/ chronically ill or disabled in any other way/ from poor backgrounds/etc. than the overall proportion in the population.

Starting with any disadvantage makes you less likely to get into power. Autism in particular makes it hard for you to manipulate other people, which is important in getting into power.

On the other hand, probably psychopaths are over-represented among people with power.

[tammywammy]

34. What a load of crap. n/t

[KamaAina]

38. The theory of mind research has been debunked

other researchers tried to replicate Baron-Cohen's results with older children, and the Autistic ones correctly said that Anne thought the box still had Smarties in it. Thus, whatever ability Baron-Cohen was describing is delayed, not absent.

P.S. There are quite a few Autistic DUers.

[csziggy]

35. "Autism spike may reflect better diagnoses, and that's a good thing"

Autism spike may reflect better diagnoses, and that's a good thing
by Laura Sanders
2:10pm, March 28, 2014

Ever-increasing numbers of autism diagnoses have parents worried about a skyrocketing epidemic, and this week’s news may only drive alarm higher. Perhaps it shouldn’t.

<SNIP>

But the numbers might not reflect a spike in actual cases. Instead, the rise might be driven, at least in part, by an increase in diagnoses. The estimates are drawn from a collection of organizations that provide services to children with autism, including doctors, schools and social service agencies. As awareness builds and more people look for signs of autism, these numbers will keep going up.

Regional spottiness suggests that better autism detection is feeding the increase. The autism rate in Alabama is just one in 175, while the rate in New Jersey is one in 45, the CDC reports. It would be surprising, and scientifically really important, if children in Alabama were truly much more protected from the disorder. Instead, differences in diagnosis rates are probably at play.

If these alarmingly high numbers are driven by professionals and parents better spotting autism, that’s nothing to be alarmed at. On the contrary: This is good news. The earlier therapies begin, the better kids with autism do. That’s the idea behind CDC’s “Learn the Signs: Act Early” program to educate people about signs that something might be amiss with a child. So our best move is to find the kids who need help, and find them when they’re young. Most kids, including the ones in the new CDC survey, aren’t diagnosed with autism until about age 4 1/2. But whatever goes wrong happens long before then.

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/autism-spike-may-reflect-better-diagnoses-and-thats-good-thing?utm_source=Society+for+Science+Newsletters&utm_campaign=dd13ea88b3-Editors_picks_week_of_March_24_20143_29_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a4c415a67f-dd13ea88b3-93315837

Emphasis added by me.

[LeftishBrit]

36. Interesting article from the Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/02/diagnosed-autism-adult-children-world-autism-awareness-day