Should all toddlers be screened for autism?

None of these studies indicated the outcome of diagnosis, researchers wrote in the recommendation. The panel said there are no studies focused on outcomes in those identified with autism through screening alone. “It’s really a call for more research to be done around treatment for children identified through screening”.

Still, that doesn’t prove the screening will identify non-high-risk babies, nor does it prove that treating those babies earlier will reduce the severity of their symptoms or avoid the disorder altogether.

Screening kids even when parents and doctors don’t see symptoms may be of benefit to children who might otherwise fall through the cracks, Geraldine Dawson of Duke University argued in an editorial in JAMA Pediatrics.

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disorder characterized by persistent and significant impairments in social interaction and communication and restrictive and repetitive behaviors and activities, when these symptoms can not be accounted for by another condition.

President of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a practicing pediatrician in New York, Benard Dreyer said, “We know from a lot of research that the earlier you can intervene with any developmental problem – including autism – the better off the child is”.

In the United States, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has become more common.

Landa hopes the USPSTF will be quick to change its “insufficient evidence” finding, “and as they’re sending out this inconclusive message, that they will be very vocal in standing with the American Academy of Pediatrics in saying that screening should happen as early as 18 months”. Within minutes of the release of the task force report, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement, blasting the decision. “Clinicians need to make a judgment on their own about whether to screen”.

Symptoms of ASD in young children can vary, but often telltale symptoms, or “red flags”, according to Autism Speaks, include “no big smiles or other warm, joyful expressions by six months or thereafter; no babbling by 12 months; no back-and-forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching, or waving by 12 months; no words by 16 months; no meaningful, two-word phrases by 24 months”. What the group says is still missing is a long-term study looking at a large number of children in the general population over time. For instance, it is deemed a preventive health service that, under the 2010 health reform, is covered by marketplace plans. “More work is being done”, says Rebecca Landa, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. For instance, some had smaller sample sizes, or weren’t randomized.

The debate over when to start screening kids for autism continues, with new recommendations that are likely to fuel further contention. Women need fewer of them, the task force concluded – and starting later in life. Under the Affordable Care Act, the group’s verdict on preventive health services typically decides if insurers will pay for benefits such as screenings.