Vaccine autism, chew on this

On Oct 28, 12:08 pm, "JOHN" wrote:
Vax autism quoteshttp://www.whale.to/vaccines/vax_autism_q.html
Autism and geneticshttp://www.whale.to/vaccines/autism_genetics.html
Autism due to better or changed diagnosis:

Published online April 3, 2006
PEDIATRICS Vol. 117 No. 4 April 2006, pp. 1028-1037 (doi:10.1542/peds.
2005-1516) This Article

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Neurology & Psychiatry


The Contribution of Diagnostic Substitution to the Growing
Administrative Prevalence of Autism in US Special Education
Paul T. Shattuck, PhD

Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

OBJECTIVE. Growing administrative prevalence of autism has stirred
public controversy and concern. The extent to which increases in the
administrative prevalence of autism have been associated with
corresponding decreases in the use of other diagnostic categories is
unknown. The main objective of this study was to examine the
relationship between the rising administrative prevalence of autism in
US special education and changes in the use of other classification
categories.

METHODS. The main outcome measure was the administrative prevalence of
autism among children ages 6 to 11 in US special education. Analysis
involved estimating multilevel regression models of time-series data
on the prevalence of disabilities among children in US special
education from 1984 to 2003.

RESULTS. The average administrative prevalence of autism among
children increased from 0.6 to 3.1 per 1000 from 1994 to 2003. By
2003, only 17 states had a special education prevalence of autism that
was within the range of recent epidemiological estimates. During the
same period, the prevalence of mental retardation and learning
disabilities declined by 2.8 and 8.3 per 1000, respectively. Higher
autism prevalence was significantly associated with corresponding
declines in the prevalence of mental retardation and learning
disabilities. The declining prevalence of mental retardation and
learning disabilities from 1994 to 2003 represented a significant
downward deflection in their preexisting trajectories of prevalence
from 1984 to 1993. California was one of a handful of states that did
not clearly follow this pattern.

CONCLUSIONS. Prevalence findings from special education data do not
support the claim of an autism epidemic because the administrative
prevalence figures for most states are well below epidemiological
estimates. The growing administrative prevalence of autism from 1994
to 2003 was associated with corresponding declines in the usage of
other diagnostic categories.

and

Lisa A. Croen1 , Judith K. Grether1, Jenny Hoogstrate1 and Steve
Selvin2

(1) March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation/California Department of
Health Services, California Birth Defects Monitoring Program, Oakland,
California, 94606-5226
(2) Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California
at Berkeley, Berkeley, California, 94720-7360


Abstract We conducted a population-based study of eight successive
California births cohorts to examine the degree to which improvements
in detection and changes in diagnosis contribute to the observed
increase in autism prevalence. Children born in 1987-1994 who had
autism were identified from the statewide agency responsible for
coordinating services for individuals with developmental disabilities.
To evaluate the role of diagnostic substitution, trends in prevalence
of mental retardation without autism were also investigated. A total
of 5038 children with full syndrome autism were identified from
4,590,333 California births, a prevalence of 11.0 per 10,000. During
the study period, prevalence increased from 5.8 to 14.9 per 10,000,
for an absolute change of 9.1 per 10,000. The pattern of increase was
not influenced by maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, child
gender, or plurality. During the same period, the prevalence of mental
retardation without autism decreased from 28.8 to 19.5 per 10,000, for
an absolute change of 9.3 per 10,000. These data suggest that
improvements in detection and changes in diagnosis account for the
observed increase in autism; whether there has also been a true
increase in incidence is not known.