California's Autism Increase Not Due To Better Counting, Diagnosis

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AutismLink wrote:

>Let's file this under.. " hello...what have we been saying for years? "

>

>California's Autism Increase Not Due To Better Counting, Diagnosis

>ScienceDaily (Jan. 8, 2009) —

>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090108095429.htm

>

>A study by researchers at the UC M.I.N.D. Institute has found

>that the seven- to eight-fold increase in the number children born in

>California with autism since 1990 cannot be explained by either

>changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted — and the trend

>shows no sign of abating.

>

>Published in the January 2009 issue of the journal Epidemiology,

>results from the study also suggest that research should shift from

>genetics to the host of chemicals and infectious microbes in the

>environment that are likely at the root of changes in the

>neurodevelopment of California's children.

>

> " It's time to start looking for the environmental culprits

>responsible for the remarkable increase in the rate of autism in

>California, " said UC M.I.N.D. Institute researcher Irva

>Hertz-Picciotto, a professor of environmental and occupational health

>and epidemiology and an internationally respected autism researcher.

>

>Hertz-Picciotto said that many researchers, state officials and

>advocacy organizations have viewed the rise in autism's incidence in

>California with skepticism.

>

>The incidence of autism by age six in California has increased from

>fewer than nine in 10,000 for children born in 1990 to more than 44 in

>10,000 for children born in 2000. Some have argued that this change

>could have been due to migration into California of families with

>autistic children, inclusion of children with milder forms of autism

>in the counting and earlier ages of diagnosis as consequences of

>improved surveillance or greater awareness.

>

>Hertz-Picciotto and her co-author, Lora Delwiche of the UC

>Department of Public Health Sciences, initiated the study to address

>these beliefs, analyzing data collected by the state of California

>Department of Developmental Services (DDS) from 1990 to 2006, as well

>as the United States Census Bureau and state of California Department

>of Public Health Office of Vital Records, which compiles and maintains

>birth statistics.

>

>Hertz-Picciotto and Delwiche correlated the number of cases of autism

>reported between 1990 and 2006 with birth records and excluded

>children not born in California. They used Census Bureau data to

>calculate the rate of incidence in the population over time and

>examined the age at diagnosis of all children ages two to 10 years

>old.

>

>The methodology eliminated migration as a potential cause of the

>increase in the number of autism cases. It also revealed that no more

>than 56 percent of the estimated 600-to-700 percent increase, that is,

>less than one-tenth of the increased number of reported autism cases,

>could be attributed to the inclusion of milder cases of autism. Only

>24 percent of the increase could be attributed to earlier age at

>diagnosis.

>

> " These are fairly small percentages compared to the size of the

>increase that we've seen in the state, " Hertz-Picciotto said.

>

>Hertz-Picciotto said that the study is a clarion call to researchers

>and policy makers who have focused attention and money on

>understanding the genetic components of autism. She said that the rise

>in cases of autism in California cannot be attributed to the state's

>increasingly diverse population because the disorder affects ethnic

>groups at fairly similar rates.

>

> " Right now, about 10 to 20 times more research dollars are spent on

>studies of the genetic causes of autism than on environmental ones. We

>need to even out the funding, " Hertz-Picciotto said.

>

>The study results are also a harbinger of things to come for

>public-health officials, who should prepare to offer services to the

>increasing number of children diagnosed with autism in the last decade

>who are now entering their late teen years, Hertz-Picciotto said.

>

> " These children are now moving toward adulthood, and a sizeable

>percentage of them have not developed the life skills that would allow

>them to live independently, " she said.

>

>The question for the state of California, Hertz-Picciotto said, will

>become: 'What happens to them when their parents cannot take care of

>them?'

>

> " These questions are not going to go away and they are only going to

>loom larger in the future. Until we know the causes and can eliminate

>them, we as a society need to provide those treatments and

>interventions that do seem to help these children adapt. We as

>scientists need to improve available therapies and create new ones, "

>Hertz-Picciotto said.

>

>Hertz-Picciotto and her colleagues at the M.I.N.D Institute are

>currently conducting two large studies aimed at discovering the causes

>of autism. Hertz-Picciotto is the principal investigator on the CHARGE

>(Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment) and MARBLES

>(Markers of Autism Risk in Babies-Learning Early Signs) studies.

>

>CHARGE is the largest epidemiologic study of reliably confirmed cases

>of autism to date, and the first major investigation of environmental

>factors and gene-environment interactions in the disorder. MARBLES is

>a prospective investigation that follows women who already have had

>one child with autism, beginning early in or even before a subsequent

>pregnancy, to search for early markers that predict autism in the

>younger sibling.

>

> " We're looking at the possible effects of metals, pesticides and

>infectious agents on neurodevelopment, " Hertz-Picciotto said. " If

>we're going to stop the rise in autism in California, we need to keep

>these studies going and expand them to the extent possible. "

>

>The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of

>Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and by the M.I.N.D. Institute.

>

>Adapted from materials provided by University of California - -

>Health System <http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/>

>.

>

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