Incidence of autism
Solving the Puzzle
A physician's notes and references on raising a son with Asperger's
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interests of the webmaster, Chris Lareau. I have a doctorate in osteopathic medicine and am the father of an Aspergian
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Prevalence of Autism Spectrum
Disorders

from the Centers for Disease Control, February 9, 2007

Problem/Condition:
       Data from a population-based, multisite surveillance
network were used to determine the prevalence of autism
spectrum disorders (ASDs) among children aged 8 years in 14
areas of the United States and to describe the characteristics of
these children.

Methods:
        Children aged 8 years were identified as having an ASD
through screening and abstraction of evaluation records at
health facilities for all 14 sites and through information from
psychoeducational evaluations for special education services
for 10 of the 14 sites. Case status was determined through
clinician review of data abstracted from the records. Children
whose parent(s) or legal guardian(s) resided in the respective
areas in 2002 and whose records documented behaviors
consistent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth
Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) criteria for autistic disorder;
pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified; or
Asperger disorder were classified as having ASDs.

Results:
       For 2002, of 407,578 children aged 8 years in the 14
surveillance areas, 2,685 (0.66%) were identified as having an
ASD. ASD prevalence per 1,000 children aged 8 years ranged
from 3.3 (Alabama) to 10.6 (New Jersey), with the majority of
sites ranging from 5.2 to 7.6 (overall mean: 6.6 [i.e., one of every
152 children across all sites). ASD prevalence was significantly
lower than all other sites in Alabama (p<0.001) and higher in
New Jersey (p<0.0001). ASD prevalence varied by identification
source, with higher average prevalence for ASDs in sites with
access to health and education records (mean: 7.2) compared
with sites with health records only (mean: 5.1). Five sites
identified a higher prevalence of ASDs for non-Hispanic white
children than for continued on next page

Read the full report from the Centers for Disease Control


Related article: Apparent increase in autism may be due to
past mis-diagnosis