by Barbara Kasey Smith

Created on: March 16, 2010

Is autism over-diagnosed?

My opinion counts too:

*According to Dr. Wiznitzer, "There is "no" epidemic of autism:

In my opinion, the reason it is believed that more autism cases are being discovered is because physicians are more aware of autism and the physicians are diagnosing more case of the disease. In some cases, many children who are diagnosed with autism is actually suffering from some other disorder such as, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders or some other quirky thing the child does. Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital says, "There is "no" epidemic. Dr. Wiznitzer states, "There certainly are more people diagnosed with autism, there are several factors that are contributing to this rise."

*Listed below are some of the factors Dr. Wiznitzer contributes to this rise:

(1)  'The definition of autism has broadened and there are more children being diagnosed as being autistic.'

(2)  'More physicians are diagnosing autism because there is a greater awareness of the disease.'

(3)  'Many children are being mislabeled as being autistic when they're suffering from some other disorder.'

(4)  'Some children who have "no" disorder or may have a mild case of autism are being labeled as being autistic.'

Dr. Wiznitzer asked, "Why can't a person be a bit different? Why do we need to be labeled?" America's parents and media have been captured by the brain development disorder called, "autism" which is publicly spoken about on national television and people are more aware of autism because it is being called to their attention more.

*Studies by CDC and National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH)

A study found out the prevalence of parent-reported rates has risen higher than previous estimates. This study concluded that 1.1% of children in the age groups of 3 to 17 had autism (1 in 91) as compared to earlier estimates of approximately 1 in 150. Is this suggesting there is an increase in autism rates between 2003 and 2007? There are different factors that need taken into account because of the methodological difference between this study and a CDC study which reported prevalence rates for the year 2002.

In 2007, National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), did a study consisting of a random telephone survey where 78,037 parents were reviewed to provide data on only one child in the household and the data was collected on this particular child for the survey. A question ask of the parent, "if they had ever been told by a physician or any other health care provider that the child had "autism," Asperger's disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or any other autism spectrum disorder. If the parents response was a "yes," then the surveyor would ask if they had any ASD disorder or autism.

*Summation:

The differences between the NSCH and the CDC previous report is the study was nation-wide and included all US regions and the CDC report was based on rates from 15 states that were observed. The recent report is more representative of the population in the US and not just 15 states. The recent study was done on the interviewers answer from parents without any review of the childs medical or educational records and the CDC report was actually based on medical and educational records.

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