Is the Prevalence of Autism Increasing? Essay Example

There is a lot of debate when it comes to autism. What is the cause? Is it preventable? Is it hereditary? These are just a few areas of concern. With modern day medicine and advanced prenatal care, it is assumed that the preventative measures would be effective and that autism would be on a decline. One key debate regarding autism addresses whether its prevalence is increasing. This paper argues whether autism is really on the rise or if it has just become more commonly diagnosed. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention clearly suggests that the prevalence of autism is in fact on the rise.  On the other side, Biologist Emily Willingham argues that the diagnosis of autism is going up, but not the number of cases. While I believe that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has some valid points in their argument, I am convinced that the number of children affected by autism is not increasing, but the rise is based upon reclassification of the disease.

With the growing awareness of autism, parents are pushing to find out as early as possible if their child is affected by this disease.  The age for effective testing has shifted to a much younger age range, and testing is determined by select characteristics. This testing includes the broad spectrum of disorders in autism. It is no longer a single classification. “Leo Kanner first described autism almost 70 years ago, in 1944,” Willingham points out. “Before that, autism didn’t exist as far as clinicians were concerned, and its official prevalence was, therefore, zero. There were, obviously, people with autism, but they were simply considered insane.” (Rothman) Clearly the idea that these individuals are not insane, and the understanding of autism has progressed. Testing use to be done on middle-aged children, usually when language delay was present. Now it can be effectively done at a much younger age.  This also shows that there is an increased number of testing’s done, and this will increase the number of reported cases.

The assumption of the prevalence of autism increasing has led to many different studies to determine the reason why.  BJM investigations found “changing conceptualization to a spectrum rather than a core categorical condition; changes in diagnostic methods; and the inclusion of children with disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, or tuberous sclerosis as also having autistic spectrum disorder.” (Baird) If the composition of a disease is changed in any capacity, the ability to accurately calculate its change is highly unlikely. Autism was its own classification, as was Tourette’s syndrome and so on. Grouping these into one category will inevitably increase the number of patients. This does not validate the findings that autism is on the rise.

For argumentative purposes, there would be other factors that would be visible if autism was rising as believed. Basing this upon the “diagnostic substitution,” belief, “Willingham explains there’s a lot of other, corroborating evidence, too. If autism were on the rise, you’d expect there to be more autistic children that autistic adults.” (Rothman)Adults are not usually screened for autism, but when they are the results is comparable to that of children, is around one percent. There would be a visible change in demographics if the prevalence of autism was increasing as believed.

On the other side the Center for Disease Control and Prevention they counter the argument that autism is not on the rise. “This new estimate marks a 23% increase since our last report in 2009, and a 78% increase since our first report in 2007.” (Why Are Autism)  The significant rise has led them to believe that autism is concernedly increasing.  Whereas is it not completely certain what is causing such a significant rise, they believe that it can be attributed to several things. First, the method for which autism is identified and diagnosed has changed. Second, awareness is higher, and this allows it to be diagnosed earlier than before. And finally, the number of affected children is rising, and this is a cause for concern regardless of how they define the autism disease.

Another argument supporting that autism is rising bases its justification on the diagnosis. “Despite the organic basis of the disorder, the diagnostic criteria have been derived through consensus, rather than being organically based; no biological “test” exists for autism.” (Baird) Because there was no regulated test, many signs could have been previously overlooked. This also argues that the symptoms have been more defined, making it more uniform for realistic diagnosis. BMJ argues that the uniform criteria proves that autism is in fact increasing the number of diagnosed patients.

The arguments for the prevalence of autism increasing are extremely convincing. It is not only assumptive statements but it is supported by factual data. However, that does not discount the fact that the criteria for which autism is diagnosed has significantly changed. When you cluster that many different diagnoses under one umbrella, inevitably there will be a noticeable change. The fact is there is an increase in autism cases, but this can be directly tied to the change is the autism structure. In order to truly know the increase, the study would have to be completed with the new classifications. Otherwise, there is no validity to the assumption that this disease is increasing.

Work Cited

Baird, Gillian. Diagnosis of Autism. BMJ.2003 August 30; 327(7413): 488–493. Web. 11 Feb   2014 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC188387/

Rothman, Josh. Autism: Not Actually on the Rise. (2012) Web. 11 Feb 2014 http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2012/07/autism_not_actu.html

Why Are Autism Spectrum Disorders Increasing? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012) Web. 10 Feb 2014 http://www.cdc.gov/Features/AutismPrevalence/