NYT: More and More Autism Cases, Yet Causes Are Much Debated

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/26/na...202083&ei=5062

Very well done, balanced article. Some selective quotes:

"But what lies behind the increase in cases is sharply debated. To some, the upswing has all the
hallmarks of an epidemic and indicates that autism itself is increasing rapidly.

To others, the rise can in large part be explained by increased public awareness of autism in recent
years, changes in the way the disorder is diagnosed and the incentive of tapping into federally
mandated services for autistic children.

Neither side can prove its argument, because the types of studies that could tease out a true
increase have not been done."

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"But epidemiologists cluster on the other side of the debate.

They do not rule out the possibility of a true increase in autism. But they point to flaws in the
way that the rising numbers - especially those in California - have been presented to the public.
And they say the small size and widely varying findings of epidemiological studies of autism make it
impossible to say what is going on.

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For example, Dr. Eric Fombonne, an epidemiologist and a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry
at McGill University, said most of the increase was probably a result of diagnostic changes and
statistical anomalies."

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"Yet so far, said Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, an autism expert and professor of psychiatry at the Yale
Child Study Center, "hard scientific evidence to support any specific environmental cause has
been lacking."

"Many of the purported environmental causes," Dr. Volkmar went on, "have been proposed on the basis
of a single case, or a handful of cases, and the observations have not held up in larger samples.""

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