Global Autism rates may be higher than thought

[n2doc]

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times
May 8, 2011, 10:36 p.m.
The incidence of autism may be much higher than previously thought in the United States and elsewhere in the world, according to a rigorous, comprehensive study of the condition conducted in South Korea, researchers reported Monday.

In the first study to take a broad-population look at the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders — types of autism ranging from severe symptoms to the milder Asperger's syndrome — researchers found a rate of 2.64% among South Korean children. That's 1 in 38 children, a rate far higher than the estimate of 1 in 110 children for the U.S. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, being published Monday in the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that, under rigorous examination, many more children may be affected than previously suspected.

The study "is different in the sense that they are screening the entire population of children" including those who have never been flagged with a potential problem, said Geraldine Dawson, chief scientific officer of the research and advocacy group Autism Speaks and an autism researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "It raises a question, I think, of whether we are underestimating the prevalence in the U.S. as well as elsewhere."

more

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-autism-korea-20110509,0,524140.story

[ensho]

1. it IS worse then thought

nt

[Odin2005]

2. Anything associated with Autism Speaks is probably hysterical BS.

[tavalon]

3. Not real helpful, actually

[Doctor Hurt]

5. Autism speaks claims to speak for autistics

It rarely lets us speak for ourselves.

[jeff47]

4. I have a real problem with this study

It's primary claim is that autism is everything from severe cases up to kids who are shy.

"Shy" isn't a medical condition.

We're labeling a lot of kids who don't have a real problem as "autistic" without even understanding the disease. Without a mechanism, we have no business broadening the definition of the disease.

[auntAgonist]

6. Autism has had everyone’s attention for some years now.

Autism has had everyone’s attention for some years now.

There just seem to be so many kids with autism, and we wonder what’s going on. One in 100 or a 110, say U.S. officials, and that seems like a lot.

Now comes a new study — a big study, very credible, very deep — and it finds one in 38 kids with autism spectrum disorder. That is a truly arresting number.

But what does it mean? What’s behind the number? And what can be done about it?

Young Shin Kim is a professor at the Child Study Center at
Yale University School of Medicine and the lead author of the new study of autism. She’s a child psychiatrist and an epidemiologist who focuses on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and related disorders.

Lisa Croen, director of the Autism Research Program and senior research scientist at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. She is the principal investigator on two on-going federally-funded autism studies. She is also co-investigator on the California Autism Twins Study (CATS).

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/05/10/new-autism-findings