Autism, which is also known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is known to affect one child out of 68, and it’s roughly four times more likely to occur in boys than among girls.
While there are no cures or treatments for ASD itself, some doctors can suggest special diets or even drugs for other conditions that people suffering from autism are also dealing with. A new study has to bring some concerning information regarding children and teenagers from the US who are suffering from autism.
A spike of over 50%
The research in question belongs to public health researchers from the Guangdong Pharmaceutical University in China, and it indicates a spike of more than 50% in cases of autism for children and teenagers living in the US for the period between 2017 and 2020 according to the New York Post.
What’s perhaps even more concerning is that at this point, there’s no telling for sure what caused the greater prevalence of the disorder.
The findings also seem to confirm that autism affects more boys than girls. 4.64% of boys were found to be suffering from autism in 2020. The percentage of girls dealing with the condition in the same year was significantly lower compared to boys: just 1.56%.
Back in June, the FDA approved a new device known as EarliPoint System that can be used to detect autism. In the lack of any blood or medical tests, doctors had to go through a quite difficult process to determine if a child was dealing with autism before the new invention. Scientists from Yale University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Emory University School of Medicine are those who developed the new EarliPoint System device that works by carefully assessing the child’s behavior.
The new research about the increase of autism cases was published in JAMA Pediatrics.
