The CDC is expected to release a report Friday morning detailing a frightening increase in the prevalence of autism in America’s children, potentially supporting evidence released earlier this year that one in every 100 kids now suffers from the disease.
As devastating as those numbers are — comparatively, only about 1 in 8,000 children suffer from pediatric cancers and 1 in 500 from juvenile diabetes — the report is already being viewed as good news by activists for autism research.
Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism and science advocacy organization, has already made plans to use the new findings in their push for increased government funding — funding they insist is desperately needed to get to the bottom of this tragic, mysterious and costly affliction.
“These numbers are shocking,” says Bob Wright, Autism Speaks’ co-founder, and the grandfather of an autistic child.
Just five weeks ago, the CDC released an evaluation of parents that showed approximately one in 100 children are now affected by the disease. “At the time, a lot of people said, ‘Well, that’s a parents’ study,” Wright notes. “This sort of slams the doors to the naysayers. This is the real deal.”
In fact, the CDC prevalence study that is expected to be published in Friday’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, follows the same methodology that found autism was affecting 1 in 150 children back in 2007, Wright explains.
Putting it another way: The new numbers suggest that fully one percent of kids in the U.S. now suffer from autism. And the news may be even worse for boys, who according to some reports suffer at rates closer to one in 60.
As for those who argue that the increase is simply due to doctors’ abilities to more accurately diagnose autism, Wright says the CDC has taken that into account — and their findings will show that only factors into about 25 percent of the increase in cases.
Solving a Mystery
So what is causing the increase? “We know [autism is] genetic; it’s got a genetic basis,” Wright says. “But that doesn’t explain this growth.” Figuring out the mystery as to why cases are increasing at such a rapid rate is paramount in Autism Speaks’ goals.
“We have to get into the environmental nature [of what’s happening]. And we need to do it quickly. Many years have been lost here [without major funding for research]. We need to look at this the way we looked at breast cancer and AIDS in prior decades, to get on the case.”
Because autism has been treated primarily as a mental health issue up until this point, families who are dealing with autism often find their needs are not covered by insurance. And the cost of care over the lifetime of an autistic individual can be staggering.
“You don’t die of autism,” Wright notes. “You have a long life, and significant social needs for the rest of your life. It’s an enormous burden. So this is an opportunity for us to really focus. You have to do it starting with the federal government.”
Fighting for Funding
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a budget in the tens of billions, Wright notes, yet Autism receives only about $177 million in appropriations from that budget. “That ain’t enough,” he says bluntly. “We’ve invested $141 million of our own money in this [at Autism Speaks]. It isn’t enough.”
While he hopes the new findings help spur a marked increase in funding, Wright is also encouraged by other signs of progress in Washington.
At this point, there is language present in both the House and Senate versions of the Health Care Reform Act to prevent discrimination on insurance coverage for people with Autism. He notes: “There aren”t many words, but it’s very important.”
“We also have a President who’s very interested in autism, and very knowledgeable about it,” adds Wright. “He put it in his address to the NIH,” asking the organization to substantially focus on three areas going forward: heart, cancer and autism.
“He’s going to look very smart about this,” Wright says, “’cause he didn’t know these numbers [when he made that address].”
Wright also notes that public awareness of autism has grown significantly in recent years. In fact, 400,000 people across America will have marched in support of Autism Speaks this past year alone.
When it comes to putting pressure on Washington to finally get to the bottom of the autism crisis, he says, “The awareness has helped a great deal.”
To get involved in an autism walk, or to make a donation, go to the Autism Speaks website.
**UPDATE**
The CDC report released on Friday did, in fact, conclude that approximately 1 percent of children—one child in every 110—have been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
The study, which focused on eight-year-olds (considered a reasonable age to monitor peak prevalence, the report states) analyzed data from 2006 in 11 different sites around the country, and showed a 57-percent increase in the prevalence of ASD since 2002. As predicted, the study concluded that some of the increase is due to improved diagnoses. Yet it also concluded that “a true increase in the risk for children to develop ASD symptoms cannot be ruled out.”
Autism, the study concludes, should be treated as an “urgent public health concern.”
Read the full CDC report HERE.
Photo of Bob Wright by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
