One in 110 U.S. Children Has Autism

Dec. 19 -- FRIDAY, Dec. 18 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that demonstrates that the prevalence of autism continues to rise, a government report released Friday finds that one in every 110 children in the United States has been diagnosed with the developmental disorder.

In fact, the number of 8-year-old children with autism jumped an average of 57 percent between 2002 and 2006. This rise is part of a trend predating the 1980s, when autism was still considered rare. Previously, the national estimate was one in 150 children has autism.

"If you look back over the last two decades, you see an increase of 600 percent in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders," said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of the patient advocacy group Autism Speaks. "The important call to action is that we need answers to understand why we're seeing this staggering increase."

However, the authors of the report, published in the Dec. 18 edition of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not rule out increased surveillance and other factors as being responsible for the higher numbers.

"It's impossible to say how much is a true increase and how much is in identification," Catherine Rice, a behavioral health scientist at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said during a Friday morning news conference. "A simple explanation is not apparent, and a true risk cannot be ruled out."

"The CDC considers this a significant public health concern," continued Rice. "This helps us know that it's important to look for causes of autism and to take these data to help us intervene for those individuals who are here now."

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of developmental disabilities once lumped under the label "autism." Experts now realize there are varying degrees of disabilities, which manifest mainly in socialization, behavior and, perhaps most importantly, language and communication.