The federal government has been looking for autistic children and found far more than it expected. A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week shows that one in 150 children has autism.
“This is a sad day,” said Alison Singer, a New York mother of an autistic 9-year-old girl who also is senior vice president of Autism Speaks, a parent advocacy group. “This means that more families are being shattered by the news that their child has autism.”
Two decades ago, experts believed that autism was a rare disorder, which in the 1980s was classified as a psychiatric illness. Now, it is accepted as a neurological condition, a developmental problem that causes significant delays in communication, social interactions and behavior problems. Two decades ago, the government estimated that one in 10,000 children had autism.
“Autism has become a major health care crisis,” Singer said.
In 2000, the CDC study identified 8-year-old children in six states in an attempt to determine the prevalence of autism. A random sample of 4.5 percent of the 8-year-olds was assessed from these states, and 1,252 children with autism spectrum disorder were identified. The prevalence varied per state, with a low in West Virginia of 4.5 per 1,000 children to New Jersey at 9.9 per 1,000.
On average, that meant that 6.7 per 1,000 children have autism. That adds up to 550,000 children, said Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, chief of CDC’s autism program. Two years later, in 2002, they went back and collected data from another set of 8-year-olds.
In all, there were 14 states participating in the study.
In the survey, boys were twice as likely to have a diagnosis of autism than girls.
The symptoms range from slight to quite severe, such as a child who never talks or interacts socially.
The cause of autism is hotly debated. That New Jersey had the highest rate in the nation – one in 100 – makes Dr. Eric London question the environmental triggers.
“It certainly makes the environmental hypothesis more attractive,” said London, a psychiatrist and father of a 19-year-old son with autism.
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