Fourfold rise in number of children born with autism

A fourfold rise in the number of children born with autism could be the result of a change in the way the condition is detected and diagnosed, doctors said yesterday.

A survey of 15,500 British youngsters, found that 17 babies out of every 10,000 are born with the developmental disorder compared with a previously accepted figure of between four to six cases per 10,000.

However the authors of the survey, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suspect the higher prevalence is largely the result of better detection and changes in diagnostic practice rather than a steep rise in the incidence of the condition.

The latest findings followed the screening of children aged under five in Staffordshire for developmental problems ranging from classic autism, which affects language skills, social interaction and behaviour, to less severe disorders. Out of the 97 children who were diagnosed with one of the disorders, all had shown signs of the condition before the age of three and 80 per cent were boys.

A total of 26 children were autistic, amounting to a rate of 17 per 10,000, and 71 were confirmed to have another "pervasive developmental disorder" (PDD), which was a rate of 46 children in every 10,000.

The lesser disorders included Asperger's syndrome, which affects behaviour, Rett syndrome, where skills such as walking and talking gradually disappear, and a rare condition called childhood disintegrative disorder which causes serious mental and social deterioration.

Dr Suniti Chakrabarti, a community paediatrician based in Stafford, and Dr Eric Fombonne, a psychiatrist from King's College London, say their findings are comparable with two other recent studies.

The researchers also found that the autistic children were generally less severely mentally disabled than in previous studies, suggesting that early diagnosiscan make a difference.

The National Autistic Society said the study showed that "early intervention was crucial" and highlighted the value of health visitors, who had originally reported 81 per cent of the children with PDDs.