Cause of the Rising Rate Still Unknown But Could Be An Artifact of Reporting Changes

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has reported the results of a 2010 survey of the health and special education records of children in 11 communities participating in an Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.  The prevalence rate in these communities was found to be 14.7 per 1,000 eight year olds or 1 in 68 children. According to CDC, this new estimate is 30% higher than the rate in 2008 and roughly 60% and 120% higher than the rates in 2006, and 2000 respectively. According to CDC, “we don’t know what is causing this increase. Some of it may be due to the way children are identified, diagnosed, and served in their local communities, but exactly how much is unknown…one of the primary challenges in interpreting ASD prevalence data are the lack of a standardized, widely accepted indicator of severity."

Strikingly, the rates varied from a high of 1in 45 children in New Jersey to a low of 1 in 175 in Alabama.  Boys have a fivefold greater risk than girls with rates of 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls. Also, white children were more likely to be identified than children from black or Hispanic backgrounds.

Most of the children in this study were not diagnosed until after age four even though children can be diagnosed as early as age two and timely diagnosis is recommended to start treatment early.