The social patterning of autism diagnoses reversed in California between 1992 and 2018.
Open accessAbstract
Significance: Rates of autism diagnosis in the United States have historically been higher among more advantaged social groups—Whites and those of higher socioeconomic status (SES). Using data from all births in the state of California in 1992 through 2016, we find that these trends reversed during our study period. By 2018, diagnosed autism incidence rates for 3- to 6-y-old children were higher for children of Black and Asian mothers than children of non-Hispanic White mothers and were higher for children of lower SES than of higher SES parents. These reversals point to the fundamental role that access to knowledge and resources plays in driving increased autism prevalence and shifting patterns of autism cases over the past quarter-century.
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In 2018, the inverse association of higher ASD identification in the group with lower MHI was observed among children aged 4 years in the ADDM Network.
“In 2018, the inverse association of higher ASD identification in the group with lower MIH was observed among children aged 4 years in the ADDM Network, consistent with reports using recent California Department of Developmental Services data (20) and England Spring School Census data (21).”
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Maenner, M. J., Warren, Z., Williams, A. R., Amoakohene, E., Bakian, A. V., Bilder, D. A., Durkin, M. S., Fitzgerald, R. T., Furnier, S. M., Hughes, M. M., et al. (2023) · MMWR. Surveillance Summaries · doi:10.15585/mmwr.ss7202a1 · Cited by 2,706 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Winter, A. S., Fountain, C., Cheslack-Postava, K., & Bearman, P. S.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Fordham University (US)
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032
- Corresponding author
- Bearman, Peter S.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2020-11-16
- Volume
- 117
- Issue
- 48
- Pages
- 30295-30302
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC7720167
- OpenAlex
- W3101169093
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 46
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 2.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- HHS | NIH | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD091205)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Keywords
- autism diagnosis, autism prevalence, sociodemographic disparities, socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic disparities, autism epidemic, birth records, California, health disparities, children aged 3-6
- MeSH terms
- Autistic Disorder, California, Child, Child, Preschool, Humans, Incidence, Prevalence
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