CDC increases in children with intellectual disabilities

According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of American children with intellectual disabilities has "increased dramatically" in recent years.

A researcher from the federal agency said in a study published online Thursday in the journal Pediatrics, that 17.8% of children (17.8%) had at least one intellectual disability. In comparison, in 2009, this figure was 16.2%.

Investigators from the CDC and the federal government's Health Services and Resource Administration examined the data collected from 2009 to 2017 as part of the National Health Interview Survey, a government-in-person survey soliciting information on all types of health problems from individuals across the country. As part of the survey, parents were asked if their children had one of 10 different developmental disorders. The data includes the experiences of more than 88,000 children aged 3 to 17 across the country.

They found that the prevalence of autism, intellectual disability, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder increased during this period, while the percentage of children belonging to the catch-all category of "other development delays" was decreasing.

Among the factors that influenced these changes, there appeared to be an increase in prevalence among boys, older children, white and Hispanic children, urban dwellers and those whose mothers were less educated. Many of these variances associated with demographic or socio-economic data are likely due to increased awareness or access to health care, the study says.

In addition, the researchers noted that questions from the national health interview survey on autism and intellectual disability had changed somewhat over the study period, which could have affected the responses.

Nevertheless, the overall increase in the prevalence of developmental disabilities reflects a "significant change," according to Benjamin Zablotsky, an epidemiologist with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, who led the study.

"We can certainly say with this significant increase, it means that there are now more children in the United States who potentially need services," Zablotsky said.