A study of birth records in California between 1992 and 2018, correlated with autism caseload records over the same time period, finds that although the state's autism incidence rate increased by 612% between 1998 and 2018, the rates did not increase uniformly across sociodemographic groups; by 2018, more children of Black and Asian mothers were diagnosed with autism than children of non-Hispanic White mothers, and more children of low socioeconomic status were diagnosed with autism than children of high socioeconomic status, according to the authors.
Article #20-15762: "The social patterning of autism diagnoses reversed in California between 1992 and 2018," by Alix S. Winter, Christine Fountain, Keely Cheslack-Postava, and Peter S. Bearman.
MEDIA CONTACT: Alix S. Winter, Columbia University, New York City, NY; e-mail: aw2257@columbia.edu
###
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences