Longtime autism researcher and clinical psychologist Walter Zahorodny is one of the experts advising Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. following an alarming new report.
Why It Matters
Kennedy and Zahorodny participated in a press conference on Wednesday in Washington D.C. to discuss concerning data published in a new Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey. Autism prevalence in the United States has increased from 1 in 36 children to 1 in 31—described by HHS as a critical public health crisis that is being investigated.
The new report was conducted across 16 U.S. sites in 2022 and surveyed children aged 8 and born in 2014. This latest autism prevalence is 4.8 times higher than in the first ADDM survey released 22 years ago, when prevalence was 1 in 150 children.
Experts have suggested a driver of the increase is driven by greater awareness of autism, as well as an increase in testing and screening by health care professionals.
What To Know
Zahorodny, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School who directed the New Jersey portion of the ADDM study, called the results “consistent, broad and startling.”
He said from the podium Wednesday that he has worked with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients and their families for decades, in cohesion with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to get diagnoses and interventions and treatments.
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He has been director of the New Jersey Autism Study for over 20 years, monitoring data in concert with the CDC since 2000. Zahorodny said he began the endeavor and expected two to three baseline studies to establish how many children had ASD “because it was not expected that autism prevalence would increase.”
“Other childhood disabilities, neurological disorders, do not change over time,” Zahorodny said Wednesday. “But somehow for some reason with autism everything was different. Autism went from being a very unusual, rare disability which affected one child in maybe 10,000 to being known in every community, every school district, every center that cares for children with disabilities.”
He referred to ASD as “real” and a true disability, rather than a personality quirk. Everything changes including family systems and the society in which its present, he said, adding that prevalence has “increased dramatically” including in New Jersey where access to services exist.
Data shows upticks in states within the CDC network, as well as according to federal statistics and information from a multitude of surveys. There is better autism awareness “but it can’t be driving a 300 percent rise in 20 years,” he said, fearing that future reports from epidemiologists will likely show new CDC data that strongly suggests it’s not just a current high point but that rates may grow higher.
“It deserves to be treated as a public health phenomenon and urgent public health crisis,” he said. “Autism is striking and the consequences are lifelong. I would urge everyone to consider the likelihood, whether you call it an epidemic tsunami or a surge, [that autism] is a real thing that we don’t understand and it must be triggered or caused by environmental or risk factors.
“We need to address this question seriously because in my opinion we have collected data but not made real progress in understanding what causes autism of effectively prevent or treat it affectively.”
What People Are Saying
RFK Jr. on April 15: “The autism epidemic has now reached a scale unprecedented in human history because it affects the young. The risks and costs of this crisis are a thousand times more threatening to our country than COVID-19. Autism is preventable and it is unforgivable that we have not yet identified the underlying causes. We should have had these answers 20 years ago.”
Autism Society said in a statement this month: “The rise in prevalence—from 1 in 36 in 2020 to 1 in 31 in 2022—may reflect several factors including greater awareness, improved screening and diagnostics – especially in communities that were previously underrepresented through advocacy efforts to better support the Autism community. Increased awareness of Autism plays a pivotal role in educating individuals, parents, educators and healthcare providers to better identify Autistic traits and characteristics.”
What Happens Next
Kennedy, HHS have vowed to work with President Donald Trump to reduce cases.
