Rise Of Autism Claims Not Legitimate Says New Penn State Study

Although autism diagnoses among special education students grew more than three-fold between 2000 and 2010, the reason for the dramatic rise may not be because of an actual increase in autism, but rather, a outcome of a new classification system. The study says that such a rise is because of the reclassification of people with other intellectual disorders.

Autism cases are not increasing. For example, we now have a better understanding of the way the condition is more of a collection of worsening symptoms that fall on a spectrum and not just a single condition.

According to statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, autism rates have progressed from 1 in 5,000 in 1975, to 1 in 150 in 2002, all the way to 1 in 68 in 2012.

“Because features of neurodevelopmental disorders co-occur at such a high rate and there is so much individual variation in autism, diagnosis is greatly complicated”, Dr. Santhosh Girirajan, an assistant professor of biochemistry, molecular biology, and anthropology, stated in a press release.

According to a recent piece of research, the increase in students designated as having autism could be offset by an nearly equal decrease in students diagnosed with other intellectual disabilities, often wrongly interpreted as autism. Specifically, reclassification of children with intellectual disabilities as being autistic, instead. Autism itself is not becoming ubiquitous, but autism diagnosis is.

Therefore, what may appear to be an epidemic of autism is more likely the result of shifting patterns of diagnosis over time.

The findings of the study, published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, show that the prevalence of autism among the special education community shot up by 331 percent from 2000-2010. A closer look at the medical records of these patients has further revealed that children could have been diagnosed with other mental affections except autism, such as, mental retardation and inability to communicate. They also noticed that autism diagnosis varies per state.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Penn State University.

It may be that, as autism is a very odd condition, which largely remains misunderstood, it can be easily mistaken for other disorders of the neurological or intellectual type. The researchers also say, genes can influence autism strongly as it could be hereditary. There is however a difference in the result depending on the average age of these patients with 59% being the eight year olds and 97% being from the fifteen year old age group. Negative correlations pertaining to the prevalence of autism and ID varied from state-to-state, suggesting that distinct state health policies may be a significant factor in classifying autism.