By the Numbers: Autism in translation, rising prevalence figures, intelligence quotients | Spectrum
Illustration by Laurène Boglio
Welcome to this month’s edition of By the Numbers. At Spectrum, we do our best to summarize the latest in autism research. Sometimes the best summary is a chart or map. In this newsletter we bring new research results to the point, which are conveyed most concisely with data visualizations.
Let us know your thoughts on the newsletter or your own work at niko@spectrumnews.org.
Autism screening results vary widely between languages
Researchers often translate the Modified Checklist for Infant Autism, Revised (M-CHAT-R) “forwards-backwards” by converting an English form of the tool to another language word for word without regard to the cultural context.
It turns out that literal translations like this can lead to grossly inflated screen positive rates, according to a new study recently published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. The researchers examined medical records from 2,974 young children aged 16 to 30 months whose caregivers had completed an English or Spanish version of the M-CHAT-R for the Western Hemisphere.
The latter screening tool was associated with significantly higher total scores and higher initial screening positive rates for autism. Maintainers who used the Spanish version also left fields empty more often than maintainers who used the English version.
Other forward-backward translations have similar problems: a Turkish version of M-CHAT-R, for example, resulted in a screen positive rate of almost 50 percent in a 2012 study.
The prevalence of autism in the US increases as racial gaps close
According to a new analysis of 8-year-olds in 11 states, the prevalence of autism in the United States rose to 1 in 44 children in 2018, up from 1 in 54 in 2016. Data is based on health and education records of 220,281 children who collected through the United States Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC )’s Autism and Developmental Disorder Monitoring Network.
“Part of this change certainly seems to be due to the way children are identified, diagnosed, and cared for in their communities,” said Matthew Maenner, epidemiologist and director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disability monitoring team.
The prevalence was lowest among white children compared with black, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific islanders.
The results were published in December in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Autism without intellectual impairment more common than previously reported
More than half of autistic people in the United States have average or above average IQ, an increase from previous estimates, a new longitudinal study of children in Minnesota suggests.
In 2016, the proportion of autistic children in the United States with an average or higher IQ was 42 percent, according to CDC autism prevalence data released in 2020. However, the new study suggests that this number could be as high as 59 percent. The result is based on health records from 890 people who met the comprehensive definition of autism in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The study appeared in Pediatrics in November.
Spectrum index:
15.8: The proportion of parents who say that their autistic child is moderately depressed shows a study in which 101 children and their parents were asked. In contrast, almost 28 percent of the children surveyed said they were moderately depressed. The results were published in BMC Psychiatry in November.
342: The percentage that autism prevalence increased in Wales between 2001 and 2016, according to a study published in Autism in November that was based on health records of more than 3.6 million people. The study put the overall prevalence of autism in Wales at 0.51 percent.
43: The percentage of people with Fragile X Syndrome out of 975 respondents taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, a class of drugs used to treat depression, according to a study published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology in November. More than 63 percent of the participants took psychotropic drugs or investigational drugs, with the frequency of drug consumption being highest among men and adolescents.
30: The percentage of 706 children and young adults with Fragile X Syndrome who snore while sleeping, according to a study published in December in the American Journal of Medical Genetics – Part A. According to a 2004 study, only about 15 percent of children without fragile X snore regularly.
