Well, that’s what you might read if/when some other blogs see this new study: Screening of 18-24-Month-Old Children for Autism in a Semi-Urban Community in Sri Lanka. Soon to come out in the Journal of Tropical Pediatrics.
Take a look at the abstract:
All children aged 18-24 months in a defined geographical area were initially screened for autism, using ‘Red Flag’ criteria. All the children with one or more positive ‘Red Flag’ signs were further screened using Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) translated to Sinhala, followed by a comprehensive clinical assessment. Of a sample of 374 children, ‘Red Flag’ signs were positive in 28 (7.4%). Four children received a diagnosis of autism on clinical assessment giving a prevalence of 1.07% or 1 per 93 in the 18-24-month age group. Sensitivity of M-CHAT was only 25%, and specificity 70%. The high prevalence detected strongly justifies early community-based screening, but a culturally sensitive screening tool needs to be developed for Sri Lanka.
Let me start by congratulating the researchers. We need a lot more information about autism around the world. So far, most of the data is from the US, Canada and Western Europe. We need to know more about autism in other countries, and, more importantly, they need to know more about what is happening in their own countries.
The idea that a “culturally sensitive screening tool needs to be developed” is one that I would like to see explored. The IACC Strategic Plan had initiatives which were directed at screening diverse populations.
I find it interesting that they worked with children so young (18-24 months old). It will be interesting to see how stable those diagnoses are over time as well as if they missed anyone.
The autism prevalence is about 1.07%. One reason I decided to blog this is because it fits with a prediction made by Joseph over 2 years ago in his blog post Moving Toward a New Consensus Prevalence of 1% or Higher.
We do, indeed, appear to be moving towards a consensus of about 1% (or somewhat higher) for autism prevalence. It’s quite interesting to see, and kudos to Joseph for pointing this out 2 years ago.
Well, that’s what you might read if/when some other blogs see this new study: Screening of 18-24-Month-Old Children for Autism in a Semi-Urban Community in Sri Lanka. Soon to come out in the Journal of Tropical Pediatrics.
Take a look at the abstract:
Let me start by congratulating the researchers. We need a lot more information about autism around the world. So far, most of the data is from the US, Canada and Western Europe. We need to know more about autism in other countries, and, more importantly, they need to know more about what is happening in their own countries.
The idea that a “culturally sensitive screening tool needs to be developed” is one that I would like to see explored. The IACC Strategic Plan had initiatives which were directed at screening diverse populations.
I find it interesting that they worked with children so young (18-24 months old). It will be interesting to see how stable those diagnoses are over time as well as if they missed anyone.
The autism prevalence is about 1.07%. One reason I decided to blog this is because it fits with a prediction made by Joseph over 2 years ago in his blog post Moving Toward a New Consensus Prevalence of 1% or Higher.
We do, indeed, appear to be moving towards a consensus of about 1% (or somewhat higher) for autism prevalence. It’s quite interesting to see, and kudos to Joseph for pointing this out 2 years ago.