5|25: Celebrating Five Years of Autism Science Day 25: Autism
Prevalence Reaches 1:110 In honor of the anniversary of Autism
Speaks’ founding on Feb 25, for the next 25 days we will be
sharing stories about the many significant scientific advances
that have occurred during our first five years together. Our
25th item, Autism Prevalence Reaches 1:110, is from Autism
Speaks’ Top 10 Autism Research Events of 2009. In 2009, two
major studies using different research methodologies yielded
strikingly similar and eye-opening results showing that ASD
affects approximately 1% of children in the United States. Based
on data collected just four years earlier, it was found that ASD
affected 1 out of every 150 children in the U.S. This represents
a 57% increase in ASD prevalence in a relatively short period of
time. Both studies also found that ASD continues to be four
times more common in boys than girls. In the first study,
published in Pediatrics, authors from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) and