The Autism Epidemic: Increasing cases or diagnoses?

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The Autism Epidemic: Increasing cases or diagnoses? Is autism a “real” epidemic? Or have we merely started to diagnose older autism cases? Autism is a group of severe neurological disorders in which a child has difficulties with communication (both verbal and nonverbal), interacting with other individuals or responding to certain situations (social aspect), and exhibits behaviors that have a repetitive pattern. (Further Reading: Symptoms of Autism) These symptoms start appearing during early childhood and usually continue for a lifetime. Some children with autism may be intellectually underdeveloped, while others have performed exceptionally well in fields like the creative arts. Current Status of the Autism Epidemic in the US According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in 68 American children is found to have the prerequisites for autism, and boys are four to five times more likely to develop autism compared to girls. In addition, prevalence of autism per 1000 children has almost doubled over the period of 12 years, from 2000 through 2012. This sharp rise in the reported cases of autism have in many ways resulted in a major health concern for all US citizens and health policy makers, which we call an “autism epidemic.” But it’s not exactly clear if the actual cases of autism have gone up, or the older cases have come to fruition. The rise of Autism cases, and possible causes It seems as if more and more US children are becoming autistic. Diagnoses of autism can be tricky at times as there is no laboratory test for diagnosis or confirmation. Autism diagnoses are more of an abstract work than a quantitative study. This is what makes diagnosis more complicated. Let’s look at an example of how things have been inverted. A child who is said to have autism according to a set of criteria may lose inclusion when the criteria are revised, and the same is true for the those not diagnosed with autism. One possible explanation for this could be that, autism is a developmental disorder concerning communication and behavior that may improve over time.


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