new york –
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that for the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in black and Hispanic children than in white children in the United States.
By 2020, the CDC estimates that 1 in 36 8-year-olds in the United States will have autism. This is up from 1 in 44 two years ago.
but the rate Children of color rose faster than white children. A new estimate is that about 3% of black, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander children are diagnosed with autism, compared to about 2% of white children. is suggested.
This contrasts with the past, when autism was most commonly diagnosed in white children. Usually middle-income or high-income families who have access to an autism specialist. As recently as 2010, white children were considered 30% more likely to be diagnosed with autism than black children and 50% more likely than Hispanic children.
Experts attribute the change to improved screening and autism services for all children, as well as increased awareness and advocacy for Black and Hispanic families.
David Mandel, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, said the increase was due to “this rush to catch up.”
Still, it’s not clear whether black and Hispanic children with autism are helped as much as white children. We found that black and Hispanic children had less access to autism services than white children.
Autism is a developmental disorder caused by differences in the brain. There are many possible symptoms, many of which overlap with other diagnoses. They may include language and learning delays, social and emotional withdrawal, and abnormal needs for everyday life. Scientists believe that heredity is a factor, but there is no known biological reason why heredity is more common in some racial or ethnic groups than others.
For decades, this diagnosis was only given to children with severe communication and social problems, or who exhibited abnormal and repetitive behavior. has become shorthand for a group of related, milder conditions known as ‘autism spectrum disorders’.
There are no blood tests or biological tests. It is diagnosed by judging the child’s behavior.
To estimate how common autism is, CDC checked health and school records in 11 states and focused on 8-year-olds. Other researchers have their own estimates, but experts say the CDC’s estimates are the most rigorous and considered the gold standard.
Overall autism rates have been on the rise for decades and are far more common in boys than girls. But the latest study finds for the first time that more than 1% of 8-year-old girls have been diagnosed with the disease.
A second CDC report, published Thursday, looked at the frequency of autism in 4-year-olds. The research is important, according to Kelly Shaw, who oversees the CDC’s Autism Tracking Project.
According to Rose Donahue, a psychiatrist at the University of Washington, historically black children with autism have been diagnosed at a later age than their white peers. , 2020, found that autism in white children is less common than in black, Hispanic, Asian, and Pacific Islander children.
However, 4-year-olds were less likely to be assessed for autism than children in the past. High, says Shaw.
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The Associated Press’ Health Sciences Division is supported by the Scientific and Educational Media Group at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is solely responsible for all content.
