Lessons From Other Conditions And Analytic Methods
There are other complex conditions, such as cancer, Parkinsons disease, asthma, and schizophrenia, where evaluating prevalence changes and understanding biologic and environmental contributions has been a challenge. They provide some examples of how analytic models may be used to understand condition trends.
Changes in cancer trends can be seen from changes in: 1) diagnosis or detection classification and 3) exposures ., Examining patterns of change among a population might explain disease trends due to changes in factors such as the annual frequencies of exposures, availability of screenings, use of new diagnostic technologies, and changes in disease coding. It is important to have data on the occurrence of a condition before and after the change factor being evaluated. In the case of cancer surveillance, there are some well-established sources of data . It is also helpful if there is a clear change factor that has occurred as is seen in the similar slopes of reductions in lung cancer following reductions in smoking., Peaks in prostate cancer prevalence were correlated with the introduction of the first Prostate-specific antigen screening and when follow-up biopsies became more routine.
Modeling change is an integral part of cancer surveillance. There are several important lessons learned from this modeling that can be useful when examining changes in ASD prevalence. The basic steps of modeling change are:
Why Autism Diagnoses Have Soared
The number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder has risen consistently and dramatically since the 1990s. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , as of 2016, approximately 1 in 54 children in the United States was diagnosed with autism. In 2000, the corresponding rate was approximately 1 in 150 children. The rate is notably higher in boys than in girls .
There’s no way to pinpoint an exact reason for this increase, but it’s likely that significant changes in diagnostic criteria and reporting practices, in addition to greater awareness and possibly environmental factors, are responsible.
Here’s a look at some of the main theories about why autism is on the rise.
The Claim: Autism Has Increased By 30000% In 50 Years Is Linked To Vaccines
As states advance in their distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, Americans have continued to discuss what risks could be associated with gaining protection against the virus. One common belief espoused by parents and public figures who are against vaccination is that vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder, despite several studies showing no correlation between childhood vaccination and autism diagnoses.
A may represent a similar view. The post claims that autism increased 30,000% in 50 years and suggests there is a link between injections and this statistic. Originally posted on April 3, 2020, the post has accrued roughly 1,500 shares.
In a on the post, the author linked vaccines to the injections he mentions, suggesting he made the post, Because they are trying to make us all take a shot of their NEW Vaccine! The posts comment functionality has since been turned off.
USA TODAY reached out to the poster for comment.
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What Causes Autism And Why Are More And More Kids Being Diagnosed With It
Does a friend or family member have a child with autism? Autism rates seem to be skyrocketing. Among children who are 8 years old, autism has nearly doubled from 1 in 150 to 1 in 68 for children born in 2002.
Autism is part of a larger group of related conditions, called autism spectrum disorders , all of which usually involve delayed verbal communication and difficulties in social interactions. Studies suggest that children with autism tend to have other problems with how their brain functions, with as many as 20-30% developing seizures or epilepsy.
Autism More Common In Children In England Than Previously Thought Study
Cambridge researchers find prevalence varied by ethnicity and levels of deprivation in largest data analysis yet
Autism is more common among children in England than previously thought, with rates higher among Black pupils than their white peers, researchers have revealed.
Autism spectrum disorder affects communication and behaviour and is thought to affect 1-2% of people around the world, with diagnoses more common among males than females. However, there has been little large-scale research into its prevalence, and whether it differs with ethnicity.
Now researchers say an analysis of data from more than 7 million schoolchildren in England not only reveals ASD is more common than previously thought, but that there are striking differences in ASD prevalence around the country, and between different groups.
This is the largest prevalence study to date in the world, said Dr Andres Roman-Urrestarazu of the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge and a co-author of the new research.
Writing in the journal Jama Pediatrics, Roman-Urrestarazu and colleagues reveal how they analysed data from the 2017 spring school census obtained from the national pupil database in England to determine the prevalence of ASD among schoolchildren aged five to 19 in state-funded schools in England.
This census records whether children have received a diagnosis of ASD through local authorities and the NHS, or have been flagged as having ASD through a school assessment.
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Why Is Autism So Prevalent Now
One of the things that has proven most shocking about the epidemic of Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses in the United States has been the suddenness with which it swept the country. In the span of a single generation, from 1985 to 2015, cases skyrocketed from 1 in every 2500 to 1 in every 65. Just from 1993 to 2003, the numbers jumped by 657 percent, according to the Scientific American.
For families whose lives have been affected by ASD to the medical professionals and applied behavior analysts who treat the condition, the explosion has been shocking, particularly because we still have no real understanding of the cause behind it.
The desperate search for answers has lead people down some strange and occasionally harmful roads. The suggestion from one small and later discredited study in England that MMR vaccinations given in childhood were a possible cause for the skyrocketing numbers was enough to set off the whole anti-vaxxer movement a trend of withholding common vaccinations from children that has contributed to upticks in whooping cough and measles outbreaks in the U.S. and U.K.without any decrease in ASD diagnoses.
So the one question on everyones mind is why does autism a disorder that was first described in the 1940s seem to be so common now?
Why People Think Vaccines Cause Autism
One of the most widespread myths is that vaccines cause autism. This myth started in 1998, when former U.K. doctor Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet suggesting that autism might be triggered by MMR vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella.
The result was an 80% drop in the rate of 2-year-olds in England who received MMR vaccines over the next few years.
The myth unraveled in 2004, when journalists discovered that Wakefield failed to disclose a major conflict of interest: He had applied for a patent on his own measles vaccine.
Wakefield was also being paid by lawyers who were filing lawsuits against the manufacturers of MMR vaccines for downplaying side effects.
Citing ethical concerns, The Lancet retracted Wakefields paper in 2010. Soon afterward, Wakefield was permanently stripped of his medical license by the U.K. General Medical Council, so he fled to Texas to continue his anti-vaccination campaign in the United States.
In 2016, Wakefield directed a movie, Vaxxed, accusing the Centers for Disease Control of covering up evidence that the MMR vaccine could increase the risk of autism in black children.
The CDC says the association was not because vaccines were causing autism. Instead, children who already had autism were also more likely to have received vaccines as a requirement of attending special education preschools.
Furthermore, another study in 2014 found no difference in autism rates for vaccinated and un-vaccinated children.
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Bridging The Ethics Gap
The problem is that traditional oversight mechanisms, such as institutional review boards at government or academic research institutions, as well as the private boards utilized by pharmaceutical companies, are not accessible to most independent researchers. Traditional review boards are either closed to the public, or charge fees that are out of reach for many citizen science initiatives. This has created an “ethics gap” in nontraditional scientific research.
Biohackers are seen in some ways as the direct descendents of “white hat” computer hackers, or those focused on calling out security holes and contributing solutions to technical problems within self-regulating communities. In the case of health and biotechnology, those problems include both the absence of treatments and the availability of only expensive treatments for certain conditions. As the DIYbio community grows, there needs to be a way to provide assurance that, when the work is successful, the public is able to benefit from it eventually. The team that developed the one-hour Covid test found a potential commercial partner and so might well overcome the oversight hurdle, but it’s been 14 months since they developed the test–and counting.
In short, without some kind of oversight mechanism for the work of independent biomedical researchers, the solutions they innovate will never have the opportunity to reach consumers.
Findings Highlight The Need For Sex
Boys are four times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder , yet a growing body of research shows that the condition is more common in girls than previously thought, strongly suggesting that new methods are required to diagnose the disorder at younger ages.
A new study from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia examined differences in the way girls and boys on the autism spectrum used certain types of words during storytelling. This study found that autistic girls used significantly more cognitive process words such as think and know than autistic boys, despite comparable autism symptom severity. The results were recently published in the journal Molecular Autism.
The authors suggest that identifying differences like these opens the door to making sure girls with ASD receive the diagnosis and support they need to achieve the best possible quality of life.
A misdiagnosis means many girls do not receive early intervention and that standard interventions may not be appropriate for meeting girls unique needs. Many autistic women are not diagnosed until they are adults and report significant social challenges and a profound sense of being different from their typically developing peers.
This study was supported by the Autism Science Foundation, the Eagles Charitable Trust, the McMorris Family Foundation, the Allerton Foundation, and a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant 5U54HD086984-03.
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Why Are Boys More Likely To Have Autism
There has been something unusual and inexplicable about autism from the very beginning. When psychiatrist Leo Kanner was conducting some of the first studies that led to a formal diagnosis for the syndrome, he noticed something strange about his test subjects: there were more than four times as many boys that showed symptoms as girls.
Kanners initial observation has been confirmed repeatedly in autism spectrum disorder research over the years. Between four and five times as many boys as girls are diagnosed with ASD each year, and the same has been true for as far back as there are records. Through the modern surge in diagnoses and the intensive investigations into this phenomenon that followed, that ratio has remained relatively static.
Why are boys apparently more susceptible to ASD? With the causes and origins of the disorder themselves still only vaguely understood, its hard for scientists to provide a definitive answer to that question.
But recent research has begun to open up some hypotheses about the issue that might shed light on both autism and on some of the basic and ancient differences between the male and the female brain.
Is Autism More Common In Boys Youll Be Surprised To Know
Autism is a complex multifactorial disorder characterized by altered neural development, and is more frequently observed in males. There is no single reason that can explain such a bias clearly, but several hypotheses and explanations have been put forth.
Autism is a complex multifactorial disorder characterized by altered neural development, and is more frequently observed in males. There is no single reason that can explain such a bias clearly, but several hypotheses and explanations have been put forth.
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New Cdc Report Finds Increase In Autism With 1 In 44 8
The rate of 8-year-olds in the United States diagnosed with autism rose in 2018, to about 1 in 44, according to data tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – an increase attributed to better access to early interventions that result in more comprehensive identification of the condition.
A March 2020 report from the CDC estimated that 1 in 54 8-year-olds had received an autism diagnosis. Between the release of that report and the findings presented this month, the prevalence of autism increased from about 1.9% to 2.3% of children in that age group.
“The substantial progress in early identification is good news because the earlier that children are identified with autism, the sooner they can be connected to services and support,” Karen Remley, director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said in a statement. “Accessing these services at younger ages can help children do better in school and have a better quality of life.”
The federal agency collects data from 11 communities in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin. Though those communities are not a representative sample of the U.S. population, researchers have tracked changes in autism prevalence in those areas since 2000 to understand the developmental condition over time.
“And so clinicians are put in a terrible bind to use the diagnosis of autism,” Siegel said.
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Autisms Genetic Risk Factors
Research tells us that autism tends to run in families. Changes in certain genes increase the risk that a child will develop autism. If a parent carries one or more of these gene changes, they may get passed to a child . Other times, these genetic changes arise spontaneously in an early embryo or the sperm and/or egg that combine to create the embryo. Again, the majority of these gene changes do not cause autism by themselves. They simply increase risk for the disorder
by Peter Hess / 26 September 2019
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Unexpected effects
New statistics on autism prevalence in the United States suggest a dramatic rise in the number of children with the condition. But it is unlikely that these numbers reflect a true rise in prevalence, experts say.
Autism prevalence in the U.S. rose from 1 in 91 children in 2009 to 1 in 40 in 2017, according to survey results published today in Pediatrics1. The condition is most often diagnosed in white children, those living in urban settings and those who have any government-funded insurance, the study also shows.
A sizable portion of the increase is probably due to rising awareness of the condition and improved systems for identifying autistic children, says lead investigator Benjamin Zablotsky, health statistician at the CDC.
The way the survey phrases and places a question about autism asking parents whether a healthcare professional has ever told them their child has autism may also affect prevalence estimates, he says2.
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One In 44 Us Children Diagnosed With Autism New Data Suggests
New autism numbers released Thursday suggest more U.S. children are being diagnosed with the developmental condition and at younger ages.
In an analysis of 2018 data from nearly a dozen states, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that among 8-year-olds, 1 in 44 had been diagnosed with autism. That rate compares with 1 in 54 identified with autism in 2016.
U.S. autism numbers have been on the rise for several years, but experts believe that reflects more awareness and wider availability of services to treat the condition rather than a true increase in the number of affected children.
A separate CDC report released Thursday said that children were 50 percent more likely to be diagnosed with autism by age 4 in 2018 than in 2014.
There is some progress being made and the earlier kids get identified, the earlier they can access services that they might need to improve their developmental outcome, said CDC researcher and co-author Kelly Shaw.
Signs And Symptoms Of Autism Spectrum Disorder
ASD symptoms are typically first recognized between 12 and 24 months of age, although these symptoms may be seen earlier than 12 months if developmental delays are severe, or later than 24 months if symptoms are subtler. Around this time, children maybegin to exhibit developmental delays in, or losses of, social or language skills. For example, some children may show a lack of reciprocal smiling and looking at faces, a consistent lack of eye contact, or persistent hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensoryinput . As play develops, parents may notice that their child plays differently with toys, such as lining up objects or carrying them around but never playing with them in the traditional sense. Children may also have restricted interests or a lack of interest in playing with others. Adaptation to change may be an area of significant difficulty children with ASD may become extremely upset if their routine is changed.
Researchers in the field have developed a range of tools to screen for early symptoms of ASD. Currently, the most evidence-based and accepted screening tool for ASD is the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition. This tool is play-basedand has been developed to accurately assess and diagnose ASD across age, developmental level and language skills.
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