A study led by UAB researchers and others has found a 57 percent increase in autism spectrum disorders between 2002 and 2006.
Nearly 1 percent of American 8-year-olds now are identified as having those kinds of developmental disabilities, which include autism, Asperger disorder and other degrees of delayed or changed childhood socialization, communication and behavior.
In the study, published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorders "an urgent public heath concern" that will require more monitoring, research into risk factors and increased support to help families and communities improve the long-term outcome of people with the disorders.
The study looked at 307,790 children at 11 U.S. sites of the Autism and Developmental Monitoring Network in 2006. Of those, 2,757 were identified as having an autism spectrum disorder.
Beverly Mulvihill, a UAB associate professor of public health and co-author of the study, said the increase was stunning. "But what we can't say is what's its due to," she said. "Is it due to an actual rise in the number of cases, or is it due to the fact that we can count it better?"