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2025-04-17 Science & Technology
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America's autism hotspots revealed as new data lays bare 'rampant epidemic'
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Government officials have revealed which states are autism hotspots as the US faces a 'relentless epidemic' of cases.
A CDC report released earlier this week revealed rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have increased to one in 31 children in the US, a staggering increase from one in 150 just two decades ago.
Experts also suggested the true rate nationwide could be even higher due to patchy screening and limited access in rural areas.
Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr abruptly called a press conference Wednesday claiming Americans 'have to recognize we are doing this to our children and we need to put an end to it.'
He also announced a series of studies looking into 'environmental toxins' he believes could be fueling the surge and promised 'there will be an answer for the American people' by September.
The CDC's new report shows while one in 31 American children are autistic, the condition is even more prevalent in certain states.
In California, for example, one in 19 eight-year-olds in 2022 were diagnosed as autistic, adding up to just over 800. The researchers also suggested the true nationwide rate is closer to California's than to one in 31.
Pennsylvania followed closely behind with one in 21 or 335 children, and Wisconsin recorded a rate of 1 in 26.
And eight states reported rates higher than or equal to the national average for 2022, the latest data available.
However, the report looked only at certain monitoring sites in the US, each of which only focused on a small portion of the state, so the true numbers for each state are likely significantly higher.
The researchers also only looked at children ages four through eight, so it's unclear how many older children and teens were diagnosed.
It's unclear what exactly is behind a surge in autism diagnoses, but Kennedy has suggested environmental toxins like mold, pesticides, food additives, medications or ultrasounds could all be to blame.
He also estimated only 10 to 20 percent of cases are likely due to doctors getting better at diagnosing it.
Scientists and advocates for people with autism have criticized Kennedy's position as harmful and misleading.
Mainstream research describes autism as a complex condition largely shaped by genetics and multiple other contributing factors.
The CDC report looked at autism rates in 16 monitoring sites across the US to predict the overall figure for the rest of the nation.
Researchers focused on four-to-eight-year-old children living in those areas in 2022.
Kids were counted as having autism if they had a diagnosis or were receiving special education for it.
Four-year-olds who didn't have a diagnosis but showed signs of autism were labeled as 'suspected' cases.
States included in the analysis included Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.
The study also included a site in Puerto Rico and data from two cities in Texas, Austin and Laredo.
Data for California was focused on one county in metropolitan San Diego, which included 15,212 eight-year-olds. The autism rate added up to one in 19 or 807 children.
The CDC experts also suggested in the report the actual nationwide autism rate may be closer to California's than to one in 31.
This could be due to current data not capturing the entire country, as isolated areas may lack testing.
Pennsylvania's data was tied to one county in suburban Philadelphia and included 7,066 children. Of those, 335, or one in 21, had an autism diagnosis.
The state with the third highest rate, one in 26, was Wisconsin. Using data from eight counties throughout the southeastern part of the state, researchers found 1,078 out of 28,098 eight-year-olds had an autism diagnosis.
Data for Texas was focused on Austin and Laredo, which have 980,000 and 258,000 residents each, respectively.
Austin recorded a rate of one in 51 children, which added up to 85. In Laredo, one in 103 eight-year-olds had an autism diagnosis. This added up to 47 out of 4,856.
Though RFK Jr has pointed to environmental factors, the CDC experts said some states may have more cases due to increased resources.
The researchers wrote: 'Research has not demonstrated that living in certain communities puts children at greater risk for developing ASD.
'Differences in the prevalence of children identified with ASD across communities might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.'
They also noted some states like California have more testing centers and other states may not cover autism testing in insurance plans.
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-04-17 04:43||
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