Prevalence of autism among US children, teens on the rise

Researchers estimated that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, among children and adolescents in the United States was 3.14% in 2019 and 2020 overall, up from 2.24% in 2014.

In a research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics, they noted several studies showing that the rate of U.S. children with ASD diagnoses has increased. A 2020 report indicated that one in 54 children aged 8 years received a diagnosis, and last December the estimate in that same age group jumped to one in 44.

Using data from the 2019 and 2020 editions of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), the authors found that 410 of 12,554 children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 17 years were reported to have a diagnosis of ASD, with a higher prevalence in boys than in girls and a higher incidence in poverty-stricken families, with the weighted prevalence of ASD as a whole increasing from 2.24% in 2014 to 3.49% in 2020.

The authors also said the findings were “higher than the reported prevalence from the NHIS in 2014 to 2016 (2.47%), from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network in 2018 (2.3%), and from the National Survey of Children’s Health in 2016 (2.5%).”

“Given that ASD is a lifelong disease in most children, future research needs to focus on understanding risk factors for and causes of ASD,” they wrote.