Autism Diagnoses Surge Among Kids, Adults

The number of American children and adults diagnosed with autism has increased 175% in about a decade, according to new research that shows an uptick among certain groups appears to be driving the trend.

In a review of electronic health records and insurance claims data for about 12 million people between 2011 and 2022, researchers found that the odds of an autism diagnosis “increased substantially.”

He study published this week in the journal JAMA Network Open indicates that the prevalence of autism jumped from 2.3 per 1,000 to 6.3 per 1,000 during the period studied.

The biggest change was seen in adults ages 26 to 34, a group that experienced a 450 percent increase in autism diagnoses, the study found. There was also significant growth in diagnoses of girls versus boys.

The highest prevalence of autism was seen among children ages 5 to 8, the study found. Children from racial and ethnic minority groups experienced larger increases than white children, although that trend did not hold for adults.

For the study, Kaiser Permanente researchers analyzed patient records from eight health care systems that are part of a consortium of research centers known as the Mental Health Research Network. Individuals were determined to be on the spectrum if they had a diagnosis of autism based on the ninth or tenth revisions of the International Classification of Diseases, a standardized system used to code medical conditions.

“The improvement and expansion of universal developmental screening likely explains some of the increase in diagnosis rates we found in this study,” said Luke Grosvenor, lead author of the study and researcher in the Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente. “The magnitude of the rate increases and the variability by age, gender, race and ethnicity suggests that factors other than improved screening are also contributing to the rate increases.”

The study is notable for looking at autism rates among people of all ages, as most prevalence research focuses on children. However, the findings are largely consistent with data collected through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, which tracks autism rates in children, they said. the researchers.

The population of adults with autism is expected to continue to grow, with a “substantial number of autistic people aging and receiving adult care,” the study concluded, highlighting the need for increased health care services for this group.

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