Childhood Autism Eases?

Autism spectrum disorders appear to have stabilized among U.S. kids and teens

Researchers have a new reason to believe that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the U.S. has reached a plateau. It comes from the National Health Interview Survey, which shows that 2.41% of U.S. kids and teens had a form of autism between 2014 and 2016.

From article, (Researchers have a new reason to believe that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the U.S. has reached a plateau.

The evidence comes from the National Health Interview Survey, which polls American households about a variety of conditions. When a participating family includes children, one of those kids is selected at random to be included in the interview.

A new question was added to the survey in 2014: “Has a doctor or health professional ever told you that [the child] had autism, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or autism spectrum disorder?”

Between 2014 and 2016, this question was answered for 30,502 children ages 3 to 17. In 711 cases, the answer was “yes.”

Researchers from the University of Iowa weighted those responses to account for the fact that not all American households were equally likely to be selected for the survey — and that among those that were, not all were equally likely to provide an answer to that particular question.

But the differences between the two surveys may not be as significant as the fact that both suggest the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders has stabilized.

The Iowa researchers said more work will be needed to determine whether changes in environmental risks, diagnostic criteria, public awareness or other factors are behind the apparent end to a decade-long increase.)