In response to the changes, it appears parents who in the past would have reported an intellectual disability or other neurocognitive disorder in a child now are more likely to report autism spectrum disorder.
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Earlier questionnaires were a bit more complicated, with parents being asked if a child had ever been diagnosed with a developmental disorder, including autism.
While the percentage of Autism diagnoses increased, the percentage of other developmental disabilities fell. Parents were also provided a list of conditions, which included arthritis, diabetes and autism, and were asked to tell surveyors, which, if any, of the condition their child had. In the latest study before this one, CDC found a 30 percent spike in autism diagnoses among 8-year-olds between 2008 and 2010 to one in 68 children.
“Autism spectrum disorder” has often been a catch-all term for children with social disabilities, language disabilities and other problems, noted Dr. Danelle Fisher, vice chair of pediatrics at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif. As specific definitions have evolved over the past two decades, so has the understanding of different children’s needs and treatments.
Against the background of growing awareness of the disorder and a push for earlier diagnosis and intervention, the latest count follows years of steady growth in autism’s measured prevalence. There have also been recent changes in the diagnostic criteria and symptoms used to describe ASD.
At the same time, the authors of the new report caution that the new figures may overrepresent the number of children who now have a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
It’s a hot topic in the US, with many parents and advocacy groups saying something must be happening to make so many kids develop autism. “People are aware of the diagnosis and using that label and perhaps this is a label or diagnosis that’s being used instead of other diagnoses that may have been used in the past”.
Alison Singer, whose daughter has autism, said she’s less interested in estimating the prevalence of autism than in securing support and services for her child. With PLAY, an autism specialist will spend up to a year coaching parents on how to properly play with their young children. The opposite seemed to occur in 2011 to 2013, when the questions were the other way around – those data showed a higher reported rate of children with developmental delays, and a lower rate of ASD.
“True year-to-year changes of the magnitude observed are unusual”, the authors note, “and require abrupt or dramatic changes in the risk factors acting on the population”. The 2011-2013 data identified fewer cases of autism because of the way parents were answering the questions, he said.
“I think we’ll continue to see the estimates getting closer” to each other, he said.
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Results from the last 10 years have been finding increases in prevalence rates, and they have not yet shown a leveling off, he said.
