One in 31 children, more than 3% of children, has been identified with autism, according to the latest results published on Tuesday of a centers for diseases and prevention that tend tendencies of the prevalence of autism in some communities in the USS.
“Again they have risen, only in two years. We have in some states as low as 1 in 20 children with autism, 1 in 31 children. And when I was, in my generation today, the autism rate was 1 in 10,000”, Heal and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He said Tuesday in Indiana, announcing the new findings. “And this is just a disease. All this generation of children is damaged by chronic disease.”
Kennedy often cites the figures of the CDC of this study as evidence of its claim that the United States is now seeing a growing “Epidemic” either autismthat experts and defense groups have criticized as stigmatizing and deceitful.
“As the report indicates, more children have access to evaluations for autism and children are identified as autistic. This is encouraging, when children identify early, appropriate support and services can be ruled to find the foundation of Kristin Sohl, of the subcommittee of the American Academy of Pediatrics on autism, in a shared statement before the comments of Kennedy and the launch of the report.
Dr. Céline Gousder, medical collaborator of CBS News and editor in general for public health at Kff Health News, told “CBS Mornings Plus” that the definition of what autism is also expanded.
“It’s a spectrum. It’s not just one thing … So that is part of that,” he said. “We are also being much more aggressive when looking for it: pediatricians, educators.”
The definitions used in this study are also quite wide, Gounder added.
“They were looking at both health records, educational records, made a special service support for students, such things,” he said. “So part of this is the way we look for it. But there also seems to be an underlying increase that has occurred with time.”
For years, CDC scientists have said that data that indicate an increase in the diagnoses of the autistic spectrum disorder, or ASD could reflect a better detection and access to autism services in some communities. However, agency’s experts were not made available to a press conference on the last findings, marking a change of previous years.
“Research has not shown that living in certain communities puts children at greater risk of developing ASD,” said the authors of the CDC in their report.
The authors of the study said that the estimated prevalence of autism was consistently greater among Asian, black and Hispanic children compared to white children. Factors such as trigger delivery and lead poisoning could transmit to this gap, according to the report.
Sites data were collected in 16 communities for the new CDC report. The last report found a rate of 1 in 36 children until 2020, based on data from 11 communities.
Although the network data is not national representatives, the figures of other surveys and studies financed by the federal government have also tracked an increase in the prevalence of autism in the last two decades, accelerating in the early 2000s.
“Autistic children add value to our communities. The legislation for resources and funds to support autistic people of a lifetime is essential for a productive and healthy America,” Sahl said in the statement.
It occurs when federal spending in autism research has also increased, to a large extent the efforts to study sustained biology to underlyact the condition. While scientists have linked up to 90% or autism with genetic features, other factors are also suspended to play a role in changing their risk.
Kennedy has said that he believes that “an environmental toxin” is causing autism, pointing out a variety of possible guilty of food pollutants to vaccines.
Many studies have discredited the statement that vaccines cause autism. But there is less research for other factors than studies suggest that they could be linked to autism, from pesticides until time between pregnancies.
“While the number of studies investigating the epidemiology of autism is increasing, most potential environmental factors have not been investigated enough to draw firm conclusions,” said the investigation of the autism of the federal government.
In a statement on Tuesday, Kennedy said that autism was preventable and said it was “unforgivable that we had not yet identified the underlying causes.”
“We are gathering teams of world class scientists to focus research on the origins of the epidemic, and we hope to have answers for September,” he said. Leading autism organizations have Expressed skepticism On that promise and group that will relive discredited theories.
Finding an answer to the cause or causes of autism for September “is not realistic,” said Gounder.
“Some of the theories include Diabetes Duration Pregnancy That could be affecting the development of the child, air pollution, exposure to micro plastics, use of antibiotics and the way the microbiome and intestine change, “he said.” There is a complete group or different theory. And again, because it is a disorder of the autistic spectrum made of many different diseases, it will really take a mock time. “
The CDC also issued a statement that indicated that the prevalence varied widely between different sites in the study. This variation “could reflect the differences in the availability of services for early detection, evaluation and diagnostic practices,” said Dr. Karyl Rattay, head of the Human Development and Disability Division of CDC.
Delayed CDC report, experts in Barredas de las Media
The National CDC center on birth defects and developmental disabilities initially planned to publish the report in March this year, several officials told CBS News. Its publication was retreated by CDC officials in the middle of a pause throughout the department on communications ordered by the Trump administration.
The plans to make available to the agency’s experts to explain and interpret the results were also discarded, multiple CDC officials said, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Before the latest version of the agency or Autism figures In 2023, CDC scientists appeared in the press information sessions and interviews with the media about the report.
That year, the media were also provided with the co -strokes of the report in advance to give journalists time to prepare their reports and interviews with experts. This long data practice has also abandoned the agency throughout the Trump administration, authorities said, both for the Autism report and for many other studies published by the agency.
The CDC and the HHS did not respond to the requests for the Estate EMAR report, or to make experts greed for an interview.
The majority of communications staff working with the center has also fired, authorities said, as part of the wide restructuring of the Kennedy department this month.
The branch responsible for producing autism figures is one of the Few teams that go back At work at the CDC birth and disabilities defects center.
Officials hope that CDC will be split and merged with the new Kennedy administration for a healthy agency in America.
