Autism Epidemic!
Between the years of 1992 and 2001 the rates for autism greatly increased. There have been many reports stating that autism is an epidemic and that it needs to be controlled. Autism is not an epidemic and there are logical reasons for the increase in recorded diagnosis’s. The most logical and seemingly most missed reason for an increase in autism is the fact that the category of autism for reporting was not required until 1992. Many articles missed this important piece of information, a few are listed below:
http://www.namiscc.org/newsletters/April02/autism.htm
This article titled, “The US Autism Epidemic is Out of Control” uses the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) or government data as empirical evidence. Although in this article, they do not clearly interpret the IDEA. They compared, by state, 1992-93 data to 2000-01 data to which almost all of the percentage increases are well over 100%. They do not mention the fact that the category was required in 1991 to 1992 which more than likely almost completely accounts for these increases.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_2003_June_24/ai_103603753
This article was originally published in “Insight on the News” in June 2003. The author uses both the IDEA data to support the claim that there is an increase in autism. For the IDEA data, they quoted the rise in autism in Ohio and Illinois in 1992. They however did not mention that autism was a new category, or that it was optional, which helps to explain a lot of the increase.
http://robothink.blogspot.com/2006/02/autism-epidemic.html
This posts states that the epidemic is due to things such as pollution, food additives, vaccinations, and genetics. This posts also relates the increase to a better diagnosis by child psychologists. A graph was included from fightingautism.org. The graph showed how autism has increased by 805% from 1992-2003. The article is missing that fact that much of the increase in diagnosis in not a better diagnosis, but a broader criteria of autism and the addition of autism to IDEA.
Each of these articles misinterpreted the IDEA data to support this so called autism epidemic. As Ed Ritvo, MD, at UCLA Medical School states, “There is no epidemic of autism!” He attributes the rise in the fact that today we are diagnosing not only autism, but Asperger’s. and PDD-NOS. He also attributes some of the increase to more accurate diagnosis with better diagnostic criteria, better records of autism, and the closure of institutions where many were improperly diagnosed. (www.pediatricservices.com/prof/prof-11.htm)
Dr. Gernsbacher also talks about the notion of an autism epidemic in an interview with Medscape July 15, 2005 (www.medscape.com/viewarticle/508429). She states, “One thing that some people fail to realize is there were no standard diagnostic criteria for autism in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (of the American Psychiatric Association), the DSM, until 1980, and the criteria in the DSM have undergone purposeful change during the past 25 years. Whereas the 1980 DSM-III entry required satisfying six mandatory criteria, the more recent 1994 DSM-IV offers 16 optional criteria, only half of which need to be met. Therefore, any estimates of the prevalence of autism prior to 1980 would have been based on individual clinicians’ or specific researchers’ definitions, and would have fluctuated because of factors that continue to introduce variation into current-day estimates, such as variation in the size of the population sampled and the manner of identification. Estimates since 1980 would have been based on changing versions of the DSM criteria.”
Dr. Gernsbacher points out the changes in the diagnostic criteria for autism as a common misinterpretation for an increase in autism. It is crucial to interpret data correctly and take into account all factors. In this case, taking into account the required addition of autism in reports in 1992 is very crucial because it can be the deterring factor in calling the rise in autism an “epidemic.”
