Parental Report of Diagnosed Autism in Children Aged 4-17 Years: United States, 2003-2004

Two population-based studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in selected U.S. locations reported autism spectrum disorders (ASD) prevalence of 3.4 and 6.7 per 1,000 children, respectively (1,2). CDC also conducts two nationally representative surveys, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), in which parents are asked whether their child ever received a diagnosis of autism. Because of similarities in methodology used by the two surveys, CDC analyzed 2003-2004 data from NHIS and data from the first ever NSCH (collected during January 2003-July 2004) to:

• Estimate the population-based prevalence of parental report of diagnosed autism in the United States
   
• Assess parental reporting of child social, emotional, and behavioral strengths and difficulties and special healthcare needs among children with and without reported autism

The results indicated that the prevalence of parent-reported diagnosis of autism was 5.7 per 1,000 children in NHIS and 5.5 per 1,000 children in NSCH. Prevalence estimates in the two studies were similar across age, sex, and racial/ethnic populations. The consistency in estimates between the two surveys suggests high reliability for parental report of autism. These estimates suggest that, as of 2003-2004, autism had been diagnosed in at least 300,000 U.S. children aged 4-17 years.

The data also indicates that children with parental reported autism were more likely than children without autism to have moderate or high levels of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, peer problems, and hyperactivity.