By Catherine Lord, Special to CNN <\/p>\n
updated 5:08 PM EDT, Sun April 1, 2012 <\/p>\n
STORY HIGHLIGHTS <\/p>\n
Editor's note: Catherine Lord is the director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, a subsidiary of Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital. <\/p>\n
(CNN) -- This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its newest study on the rate of autism among 8-year-olds, showing that 1 in 88 has some form of the disorder. Previously, it was 1 in 110. Does the new figure indicate that we are seeing an epidemic of autism, as some have speculated? <\/p>\n
At this point, it's not clear. <\/p>\n
One possibility is that we are seeing the result of better detection rather than a real surge in autism. <\/p>\n
Catherine Lord <\/p>\n
However, there are some striking parts about the study, which used data from 2008 collected in 14 sites across the United States. The rate of autism increased by more than 45% from 2002 to 2008 in numerous sites. It was a larger and more consistent increase than from 2002 to 2006. Also intriguing is that the increase was very uneven in terms of geography, gender, race and ethnicity. <\/p>\n
Some sites had nearly five times as many children with autism as others. In several sites, almost 1 in 33 8-year-old boys were diagnosed with autism. This seems difficult to believe, particularly when these sites had smaller samples and children with less severe intellectual disabilities. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Visit link: By Catherine Lord, Special to CNN updated 5:08 PM EDT, Sun April 1, 2012 STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Catherine Lord is the director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, a subsidiary of Weill Cornell Medical College and New York Presbyterian Hospital. (CNN) -- This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its newest study on the rate of autism among 8-year-olds, showing that 1 in 88 has some form of the disorder Continue reading
\nOpinion: Answers to autism elusive<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"