Autism has increased by 43% among New Jersey children, according to a report

Autism rates have been steadily rising across the United States for decades – but nowhere as strongly as in New Jersey, according to a new report.

While modest increases were observed in five other states monitored in the CDC report, there was a staggering 43% increase in autism among four-year-olds in just four years.

The awareness of autism has certainly increased and New Jersey has some of the most reliable data on the disorder, but the authors of the report say that these factors are not enough to explain such an increase.

This explains the high and rising rate of autism in New Jersey remains a mystery.

Nationwide, between one in 40 and one in 59 children with autism, depending on the estimate you are looking at.

In New Jersey, it's one in 35.

In the seven states included in the new CDC study – Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin, in addition to New Jersey – autism rates have climbed by about 27% between 2010 and 2014.

Taken together, the average rate of autism is 1.7% of four-year-olds.

But in New Jersey, it's 3% – up from 1% in 2000, and 43% between 2010 and 2014.

The difference between a 27% increase and a 43% increase is significant and, in this case, difficult to explain.

Autism as we know it – a diverse set of behavioral conditions on a spectrum – was first recognized in 1994 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 4.

As he described several subsets of features to be treated only, physicians began to learn more about the range of disorders and to diagnose more children with autism.

"As with any new invention or discovery, some early adopters adopt it immediately, so the process will take longer, so you expect rates to increase slightly with increasing awareness." co-author of the study, Dr. Walter Zahorodny, professor of pediatrics at Rutgers University.

& # 39; About 10 to 20% [of upward variation] This could be explained by increased awareness, so you could see a change from, say, 1.1% to 1.4% over four years, then it would stabilize.

"But there is no reason for it to vary as many years in use [of the DSM 4 and 5 criteria], and people still use this "better awareness" as if it explains a 150% change [since 2000]& # 39;

It is thought that autism begins with a genetic predisposition – until now, scientists have linked about 65 genes to the spectrum of disorders – and are then "triggered" by environmental factors.

From there, the possibilities become virtually limitless.

The most important environmental links have been between autism and perinatal exposures, or things that happen while the baby is in the womb and right after birth, including contact with pollution, older parents, a twin or a multiple, an untimely birth. and more.

Dr. Zahorodny and his research team compared data on perinatal risk factors experienced by children in their study with data on autism rates.

"A number of these factors involved in a high risk of autism … are all risk factors for autism independently or semi-independently," Dr. Zahorodny says.

"However, taken together, they do not seem to add to the increase in prevalence, as we have seen.

& # 39; Totally [perinatal factors] could represent 5 to 10% of the total number, but they are not sufficient to increase the prevalence from 1 to 3%. & # 39;

For eight-year-olds, the rate on all sites has increased by 150% since 2000.

But the surge in four-year-olds, who often do not yet have clear clinical symptoms, was a strange and rather peculiar phenomenon in New Jersey in the seven states.

Missouri had the lowest prevalence of autism, and there was no significant change in it or in any of the other states except New Jersey.

But there is no clear explanation for the anomaly in New Jersey.

"There is something that could vary and raise rates, something that would affect the larger populations – all children, all origins and all regions seem to be affected – but I'm not even sure of it. have good assumptions about what it was, "Dr. Zahorodny says.

For now, our best answer to this finding is that everyone is alert to autism, says Dr. Zahorodny.

"If you have questions about your child's development between 18 and 30 months, take it to the attention of your pediatrician or family doctor," he suggests.

& # 39; And if you are an active person, who wants to try to get others to do something positive, try to [your doctor] o use an autism screening device for all children, not just sporadically, but for all children.