Autism spectrum disorders appear to have stabilized among US kids, teens

Researchers have a new reason to believe that the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in the U.S. has reached a plateau.

The evidence comes from the National Health Interview Survey, which polls American households about a variety of conditions. When a participating family includes children, one of those kids is selected at random to be included in the interview.

A new question was added to the survey in 2014: “Has a doctor or health professional ever told you that (the child) had autism, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, or autism spectrum disorder?”

Between 2014 and 2016, this question was answered for 30,502 children ages 3 to 17.