“About 1 in 59 children in the United States has autism, according to data released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[…]
These numbers show an increase of nearly 16 percent from the previous prevalence of 1 in 68 children. That estimate was based on data collected in 2012 and had a gender ratio of 4.5 to 1.
[…]
[These findings] do not necessarily mean the actual number of children with autism in the U.S. is rising, says Catherine Rice, director of the Emory Autism Center in Atlanta and principal investigator for the ADDM from 2001 to 2010.
‘The current ADDM report seems to indicate that awareness of [autism] characteristics is broadening and this contributes to increases in [autism] prevalence overall,’ Rice says.”
