Friday, November 4, 2011

Autism Prevalence in Gothenburg Sweden

I haven't seen the full text of this one yet but it looks interesting.  The 0.80% is relatively close to what was found in the US 5 years ago but I have to wonder why it is so far below the more recent 2.64% estimate out of South Korea.

The Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Toddlers: A Population Study of 2-Year-Old Swedish Children. 
 
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is more common than previously believed. ASD is increasingly diagnosed at very young ages. We report estimated ASD prevalence rates from a population study of 2-year-old children conducted in 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Screening for ASD had been introduced at all child health centers at child age 21/2 years. All children with suspected ASD were referred for evaluation to one center, serving the whole city of Gothenburg. The prevalence for all 2-year-olds referred in 2010 and diagnosed with ASD was 0.80%. Corresponding rates for 2-year-olds referred to the center in 2000 and 2005 (when no population screening occurred) were 0.18 and 0.04%. Results suggest that early screening contributes to a large increase in diagnosed ASD cases.

References

Nygren G, Cederlund M, Sandberg E, Gillstedt F, Arvidsson T, Carina Gillberg I, Westman Andersson G, Gillberg C. The Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Toddlers: A Population Study of 2-Year-Old Swedish Children. J Autism Dev Disord. 2011 Nov 3. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 22048962.
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1 comment:

  1. Usethebrains GodgiveyouNovember 6, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    Wow...that's quite a difference!
    In my son's case, I've no doubt in an ealier time he would have been considered LD. I think schools are paid more for students with a diagnosis of autism, whereas if the kids are dyslexic, there is no added federal funds.

    That's another reason why we see a rise in autism rates.

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