Center for Disease Control on Autism in NJ

Article from March 27, 2014:

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a report showing 1 in 68 children nationally has an Autism Spectrum Disorder.  This newest estimate is based on the CDC's evaluation of health and educational records of all 8-year-old children in 2010 in 11 states, including New Jersey.  New Jersey has the highest rates, with 1 in 45, 1 in 28 boys. The national rate marks an increase of 30% from the previous 1 in 88 statistic.  

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a report today showing 1 in 68 children nationally has an autism spectrum disorder.  This newest estimate is based on the CDC's evaluation of health and educational records of 8-year-old children in 2010 in 11 states, including New Jersey.  New Jersey has the highest rates, with 1 in 45, 1 in 28 boys. The national rate marks an increase of 30% from the previous 1 in 88 statistic.  

• Gender:  The report shows that autism prevalence remains 5 times more likely in boys than girls, with 1 in 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls (nationally) identified with an ASD in this latest report.
• Age of Diagnosis:  The average age of diagnosis is still 4 years of age, although autism can be reliably established as early as 18 months.
• IQ:  One notable change is that more children identified with an ASD have average or above average intelligence, from one-third in 2002 to half in 2010.
• Methodology:  With this report, we now have a decade of surveillance data utilizing consistent methodology that presents a clear picture of the trends since 2000.   It should be noted that all studies utilized DSM-IV diagnostic criteria.  

Prevalence of Autism in a United States Population: The Brick Township, New Jersey, Investigation

Objective. This study determined the prevalence of autism for a defined community, Brick Township, New Jersey, using current diagnostic and epidemiologic methods.

Methods. The target population was children who were 3 to 10 years of age in 1998, who were residents of Brick Township at any point during that year, and who had an autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorder was defined as autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and Asperger disorder. The study used 4 sources for active case finding: special education records, records from local clinicians providing diagnosis or treatment for developmental or behavioral disabilities, lists of children from community parent groups, and families who volunteered for participation in the study in response to media attention. The autism diagnosis was verified (or ruled out) for 71% of the children through clinical assessment. The assessment included medical and developmental history, physical and neurologic evaluation, assessment of intellectual and behavioral functioning, and administration of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Generic.

Results. The prevalence of all autism spectrum disorders combined was 6.7 cases per 1000 children. The prevalence for children whose condition met full diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder was 4.0 cases per 1000 children, and the prevalence for PDD-NOS and Asperger disorder was 2.7 cases per 1000 children. Characteristics of children with autism in this study were similar to those in previous studies of autism.

Conclusions. The prevalence of autism in Brick Township seems to be higher than that in other studies, particularly studies conducted in the United States, but within the range of a few recent studies in smaller populations that used more thorough case-finding methods.

By: J

acquelyn Bertrand, PhD, 

Audrey Mars, MD, 

Coleen Boyle, PhD,  

Frank Bove, ScD, 

Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, MD, 

Pierre Decoufle, ScD

PEDIATRICS Vol. 108 No. 5 November 1, 2001 
pp. 1155 -1161 

From: Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics