CDC sees autism rate rise 25%

(CBS News) One out of 88 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the latest estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Complete Coverage of Developments in Autism

Previously the CDC estimated autism's prevalence at about an average of 1 in 110 U.S. children. The new estimate suggests autism is more common than previously thought - about 25 percent more common - and may affect more than one million children and teens in the U.S.

"One thing the data tells us with certainty - there are many children and families who need help," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in a written statement. "We must continue to track autism spectrum disorders because this is the information communities need to guide improvements in services to help children."

For the CDC's study, researchers looked at autism prevalence estimates from 14 areas in the country. Since every state is not included, the CDC warned the rate "should not be generalized to the United States as a whole." But the data do show that autism diagnoses continue to increase. It's published in the March 29 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Boys are still about five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism in the U.S. than girls, according to the CDC report. It estimated one in 54 boys have autism, while one in 252 girls do. The number of children identified with ASDs ranged from 1 in 210 children in Alabama to 1 in 47 children in Utah. The largest increases were among Hispanic and black children.

Some of this increase may be due to the way children are identified, diagnosed and served in their communities, although exactly how much is due to these factors is unknown, the CDC said.

Study results from the 2008 surveillance year show more than 11 out of 1,000 8-year-old kids have been identified as having an ASD, about a 23 percent increase since the last CDC report in 2009. Some of this increase is due to the way children are identified, diagnosed and served in their communities, although exactly how much is due to these factors is unknown.

"To understand more, we need to keep accelerating our research into risk factors and causes of autism spectrum disorders," said Dr. Coleen Boyle, director of CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

The study also shows more children are being diagnosed by age 3, an increase from 12 percent for children born in 1994 to 18 percent for children born in 2000. "Unfortunately, 40 percent of the children in this study aren't getting a diagnosis until after age 4," said Boyle. "We are working hard to change that."

The CDC has a "Learn the Signs. Act Early" campaign that provides checklists for parents of developmental milestones. If a child does not reach these milestones, a parent should check with their child's doctor.

"This information paints a picture of the magnitude of the condition across our country and helps us understand how communities identify children with autism," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said in the CDC statement. "That is why HHS and our entire administration has been working hard to improve the lives of people living with autism spectrum disorders and their families by improving research, support, and services."

For 2012, the National Institutes of Health invested $169 million in autism research to improve screening and diagnosis, develop effective services and resources for families, identify potential risk factors in the environment that may cause the disorder, and for testing potential treatments.

The CDC has more on autism.

Complete Coverage of Developments in Autism at CBSNews.com

10 Photos

Autism-friendly theater: The Lion King on Broadway

[RT68]

Keep in mind, this information is coming from studies begun five years ago. It is almost a certainty this number is larger.

[Gr82BGrn]

Recently became aware of work in Newport Beach CA where MD out of UCI has unique method for neuronic recovery. Patients with a variety of Spectrum Disorders, including Autism, become able to gain control of their emotions and actions out of choice versus conditioned response (typical of current palliative behavior therapies.) These patients' EEGs demonstrate "near normal" (some undistinguishable from those of "normal" cohorts). Other patients with addiction, anxiety, and other psychological disorders, where neuronic repair is possible, experience similar results. The MD is published but not in major periodicals. However, he does have 3 years of longitudinal data from patients that is impressive. It matters to those with Spectrum disorder patients how they got there, what matters most is how to return to "normalcy"!

[maurine9]

Don't expect any help for autism from the CDC. They are committed to maintaining the status quo and supporting the US vaccineprogram and the drug companies. They and many others continue to tell us nothing new about autism and every time there is an increase, they say it's better diagnosing. I believe parents are sick and tired of hearing this. They don't know what causes autism, how to cure it.Twenty years and they cannot tell us anything except "they know it's not vaccines." Then how come they don't do that all important study of fully vaxed vs fully unvaxed study of children??
Maurine meleck, SC
grandmother to 2 vaccine injured boysssssssss, one recovered with bio-med treatments.

[imawombat]

They know full well - that is why they made it illegal to sue vaccine manufacturers, and started a smear campaign against anyone who spoke out. This is one big botched cover-up.

[amdachel]

For another perspective on the new numbers, see this commentary from a mother in the autism community published on the Houston Chronicle blog.
http://blog.chron.com/autisminthehouse/2012/03/cdc-expected-to-announce-autism-rates-now-one-in-88/
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism

[amdachel]

Little in this story makes sense. For the last two decades, as autism went from being a relatively unknown disorder to one now so common that everyone knows someone with an affected child, officials have been unable to tell us ANYTHING. They can't tell us what causes autism or how to cure it. There's nothing a mainstream doctor can tell a new mother so her baby won't also end up on the autism spectrum. Now CBS tells us that they're going to change the definition. (That's one way to make the soaring rate go away.) Regardless of what you call them, there are now hundreds of thousands of children who need help and they weren't here two generations ago.
Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks wants officials at the CDC to declare autism a "national emergency." So far, no one at the CDC has ever called autism a crisis, let alone an emergency.
The public needs to be aware of one thing. Whenever we talk about autism, we're always talking about children with autism. No one has ever shown us a comparable rate among adults, especially adults with severe autism whose signs are undeniable. That simple fact should be scaring us all.
Anne Dachel, Media editor: Age of Autism

[kcsunshine47]

My theory: The use of ultrasound during pregnancy is one possible variable. It's use has increased in parallel with the increased diagnosis, the diagnosis is higher in the upper socio-economic groups which have access to more prenatal care/technology. Possibly boys are more sensitive to the ultrasound spectrum which would explain the gender difference. I'm just sayin'...

[rwsmith29456]

How does this compare with trends in other comparable countries?

[lloydbest1]

by booooooooooCBSboooooooooo March 29, 2012 3:21 PM EDT
"Hey fools. It's a scam to get your children ropped on more drugs. Stupid people.. This is mostly directed at Liberals who think daddy needs to take care of them."

by FrothyMixture March 29, 2012 5:13 PM EDT
"God's punishment for voting GOP and therefore accepting the mark for the beast."

Uh, no probably not. On either count.

When I was diagnosed at age two (more years ago than I care to think about), autism rates were about 1 in 10000. If one included all the other flavors of the disorder such as Asperger's and PDD-NOS which weren't even defined way back when, rates were probably around 1 in 2 or 3 thousand. This is just an opinion; neither I nor anyone else could say for sure but what I can say for sure is the rates are much higher now - and for all varieties on the spectrum.

Whatever the reason or reasons, early intervention has been going on long enough now that it is proven to help. Children who get that help and get it early on can go on to lead near-"normal" lives.

I can't speak from direct memory but, according to a conversation I had with my mother shortly before I married my first wife, I had a particularly severe case that so completely hobbled my early social and verbal development that the doctors who examined me told my parents I would never be able to live on my own; to leave me at the institution, forget they ever had me and try to go on with their lives.

What follows - and the reason for my opus here - is to provide a measure of encouragement to those who are either sufferers themselves or who have loved ones who are. I continued my glacially slow social and verbal development clear through early and middle childhood. Through programs that must have existed during my early years (not that I can remember any) plus my putting in an effort worthy of Hercules and his stable cleaning adventure, I managed to get through high school and college, marry (twice!), raise a family and hold down steady work for over 45 years. By any neurotypical standard you can think of I am a success.

But I am not cured. There is no cure, and I still struggle - but, damm it's well worth it! At well past sixty, I am still working on and improving on those abilities so manifestly absent in people with autism and while I still can not *quite* fit in, as the years go by I get closer and closer. That's the journey all of us who were gob-smacked by this condition face. For those of you who have a child or other loved one with this mysterious malady, intervention does help and he or she will get better.

I did.

[eatsleeppaddle]

Another example of the news media over-reacting to a story that simply says that more autism is being diagnosed today than it used to be, probably because the medical establishment is more conscious of this condition and are looking for evidence to diagnose it. This what the news does best. It does not imply or prove that there is more autism today than before. A class in "Logic 101" will explain that. I wonder if in some small part, physicians are apprehensive about not diagnosing it and being sued later? You make the call. It is similar to the rise in ADD, which is also a popular diagnosis in both children and adults. When I was teaching in elementary school, the best medicine for hyper-active students, especially boys who get the majority of ADD calls, was to go out side and exercise or run a few laps in the fresh air, rather than prescribe strong medicine. It seems that the drug companies, at times, tend to flood physicians with information that can guides them to prescribe unnecessary meds for children.

[jdaryyl]

As someone who "worked" in the field for years, I think you are pretty much right, I do think we should look into our children's diet though as an exacerbating factor to this longstanding problem. It is crazy that some highly influential individuals would say that diet has NO factor in out children's behaiviors.

[longtree-2009]

would be interesting to know the age of parents who are having children with autism. are the parents teens, twenty something, thirty something, forty something, what? do any of the parents have substance abuse in their history? thinking there are variables that are being overlooked.