Compared to 2016, new data by the CDC suggests 2018 saw an increase in the prevalence of children being diagnosed with autism.
According to the CDC data, 1 in 44 children aged 8 received a diagnosis of autism in comparison to 1 in 54 just a few years prior.
“This report focuses on children aged 4 years in 2018, who were born in 2014 and had a parent or guardian who lived in the surveillance area in one of 11 sites (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin) at any time during 2018,” the CDC authors elaborated in their journal report.
“Children were classified as having ASD if they ever received 1) an ASD diagnostic statement (diagnosis) in an evaluation, 2) a special education classification of ASD (eligibility), or 3) an ASD International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code. Suspected ASD also was tracked among children aged 4 years.”
The estimates of autism-based prevalence and monitoring of timing of the condition’s identification occur through an active surveillance program known as the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.
For 2018, the CDC data also found that the overall prevalence rate for autism was 17 per 1,000, or 1 in 59, for children aged 4. The prevalence rate was higher among Black, Latino, and A/PI children.
The data was released in MMWR. Surveillance Summaries.
