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Study: 1 in 40 Utah 8-year-olds diagnosed with autism

By Jamie Lampros - Special to the Daily Herald | Apr 2, 2023

Jenny Kane, Associated Press

The Milestone Tracker phone app from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is displayed on Thursday, Nov. 22, 2018, in New York.

Autism spectrum disorders affect 1 in 40 Utah 8-year-olds, according to a study released last week.

The study was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with scientists across the nation, including those at Huntsman Mental Health Institute. Scientists examined nearly 6,300 children across 11 states, including in Davis, Tooele and Salt Lake counties.

The findings show for the first time that underserved populations of Utah children, including Hispanic and Pacific Islanders, are equally likely to be diagnosed with ASD, contrary to previous studies that show white children were more susceptible.

“We know that we are doing a better job of identifying ASD early,” said Dr. Deborah Bilder, professor of psychiatry at HMHI. Bilder and Amanda Bakian, associate professor of psychiatry at HMHI, led Utah’s portion of the study.

“In addition, there have been improvements in access to services across Utah populations. For years, we wondered whether the higher prevalence we had seen in white children was due to a biological phenomenon. The new report, along with other evidence, indicates that autism actually is common across all groups of children,” Bilder said.

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects the nervous system and impairs the ability to communicate and interact with others. According to the Mayo Clinic, more than 200,000 cases a year are diagnosed in the United States. Signs vary widely, but can include difficulty communicating, difficulty with social interactions, obsessive interests and repetitive behaviors.

Of the 11 states in the study, Utah had the lowest rate of autism in this age group, compared to 1 in 36 in the other states. Utah also had among the highest number of children who were suspected to have autism but weren’t officially diagnosed yet. This could be due to the fact that the rate of children identified with ASD slowed down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A second study reports data from 4-year-olds, which is used to assess efforts to diagnose autism early, Bilder said. The data from Utah shows that the prevalence of Hispanic children identified with autism now exceeds the rate in white children. The 4-year-olds were more likely to have been identified by 48 months of age than current 8-year-olds when they were the same age.

“We’ve definitely made progress,” Bilder said. “Yet, there is still room for improvement in diagnosing autism at the youngest possible age.”

The CDC has funded autism surveillance in Utah for another four years and is emphasizing the “Learn the Signs. Act Early” program, which helps parents and caregivers monitor a child’s development and report that information to their health care providers.

Other states participating in the study included Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

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