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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