17 to 10,000 autistic children

A file photo shows autistic children attending a function in Dhaka.

According to a study report released Thursday in the capital, at least 17 in every 10,000 children in Bangladesh are born with autism.
And more autistic children were born urban mums, rich, educated and elderly, revealed the study conducted from May to November 2017 by the Institute of Pediatric Neurodiscipline and the following year. Autism from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University
The door-to-door study was conducted on 38,440 children from 16 to 30 months across the country.
For the study 37,982 households were randomly selected from 300 upazilas from 30 districts.
According to the study, in urban areas, the prevalence of autism is 25 per 10,000 children compared to 14 rural areas per 10,000 children. Of 10,000 boys, 24 were autistic, compared with 9.8 out of 10,000 girls.
The prevalence of autism among children from wealthy families was 33 per 10,000 children or 15 per 10,000 children in families from the bottom quintile of wealth.
The highest prevalence of autism according to the kindergarten category shows that 93 per 10,000 children of mothers with a diploma or higher education were autistic.
children of mothers who gave birth between 35 and 39 years compared to mothers who did 20 or less.
The study shows that maternal diseases during pregnancy were related to high prevalence of autism in case of maternal hypertension – 43 in 10,000 children, in case of diabetes -194 out of 10,000 , in case of asthma -68 out of 10,000, in case of fever with rash -48 to 10,000 and in case of urinary infection-33 to 10,000.
The prevalence is 15 to 10,000 in the children of mothers who had no physical or mental stress during pregnancy but 44 per 10,000 children of mothers who had suffered physical stress and 42 per 10,000 children of mothers who had suffered mental stress and 52 per 10,000 children of mothers who have suffered physical and mental stress.
Premature births were associated with a higher prevalence of autism – 44 per 10,000 children versus 15 to 10,000 in the case of normal gestational births.
The prevalence of autism was higher in children born by caesarean section – 25 per 10,000 children, while the rate was 17 per 10,000 children born through normal delivery.
Senior Researcher Shaheen
Akhter told New Age that she felt that the prevalence of autism in Bangladesh was still low and that it was necessary to tackle the causes identified during of the study to reduce the prevalence of autism in Bangladesh.
The autism risk factors identified by the study point to what should be done now, "said Shaheen, director of the BSMMU Institute of Pediatric Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Psychiatry. autism
"We need to start the autism prevention program now and conduct such studies. She said the prevalence of autism in the US was 16.9 per 10,000 children and 23 per 10,000 in India compared to the global average. Speaking as the lead guest of the BSMMU broadcast program, the State Minister for Health, Zahid Maleque, said that autism has become an important public health problem. .
He stated that the study would help formulate policies and guidelines. to treat autism.
"Autism was unknown to us a few years ago for which we were wrong to regard autism as a mental illness, in fact children with autism are disabled in a different way," he said. he says. The Bangladeshi government was working to protect the rights of 18 Lakh autistic children.
The Director General of Health Services, Abul Kalam Azad, said the study identified some of the risk factors that health services must address.
Kanak Vice Chancellor Kanti Barua said that the government should formulate the policy to address risk factors for the prevention of autism.