Non-parallel lines: Although clinical diagnoses of autism have risen over time, levels of autism traits among teenagers have held steady, according to a new population-based study in Sweden. The results support the idea that the well-documented increases in autism prevalence stem from factors such as a broadening of diagnostic criteria and heightened public awareness. The […]
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 […]
Slight increase. 1 in 54 to 1 in 1 in 44 children is not a slight increase. We have eleven cases of Omicron Covid in Connecticut and the hair of the state is on fire. Everything is a question of perspective – some things we should fear and repair and fight. Some things we should […]
Illustration by Laurène Boglio Hello and welcome to the Spectrum community newsletter. Autism researchers pondered autism prevalence questions on Twitter this week after two new estimates came out. Jack Underwood, a clinical research fellow at the University of Cardiff in Wales, posted a thread on new work that found an eight-fold increase in autism diagnoses […]
Improving Identification: Rising autism prevalence numbers are more likely to be due to improved identification and diagnosis than a real change in prevalence, experts say. Martin Barraud / Getty Images The autism prevalence in the United States rose to 1 in 44 children in 2018, up from 1 in 54 in 2016, according to a […]
A pilot study of Covid and autism: prevalence, clinical presentation and side effects of the vaccine abstract Background: Several neurobiological mechanisms have been proposed to support the hypothesis of a higher risk of COVID-19 in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, no real data are available on this population. Methods: We compared the period […]
Congratulations to the authors, Mark Blaxill (Age of Autism Editor-At-Large), Toby Rogers, and Cynthia Nevison. Blaxill, M., Rogers, T. & Nevison, C. Autism Tsunami: The Impact of Rising Prevalence on the Societal Cost of Autism in the United States. J Autism Dev Disord (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05120-7 abstract The cost of ASD in the US is estimated […]
Matthew Maenner Supervision Team Leader, National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disorders Every two years, the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measures the prevalence of autism in 8-year-old children in several states. ADDM clinics scour children’s medical and school records for diagnoses […]
