A new federal report suggests that U.S. autism rates are rising modestly, an increase that health researchers said reflected expanded diagnostic tools and access to care, among other factors. But health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instead has pointed to the data as evidence of a growing crisis.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says that 3.2% of kids surveyed in 2022 have autism spectrum disorder, a slight uptick from the 2.8% of kids surveyed in 2020 for the previous report. The report also confirmed a recent trend that autism prevalence is higher in non-white kids than in white kids.
“That interesting switch reflects the wide availability of [autism] services available to ethnic minority families — that’s a good sign,” said Eric Fombonne, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. “I don’t think that means they are more vulnerable to autism.”
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