Autism highest among Minneapolis' Somali and white children, U study finds

Autism highest among Minneapolis' Somali and white children, U study finds

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder is the same among Somali and white children living in Minneapolis, but Somali children tend to develop a more severe form of the developmental disorder, according to a new report released Monday by University of Minnesota researchers.

The study's data revealed that 1 in 32 Somali and 1 in 36 white children aged 7 to 9 were identified with autism in 2010 — numbers that are statistically indistinguishable, according to the researchers.

Both Somali and white children in Minneapolis were, however, more likely to have been identified with autism than their non-Somali black or Hispanic peers. The data showed that the prevalence of autism was 1 in 62 among the city’s black children and 1 in 80 among its Hispanic children in 2010.

Overall, 1 in 48 Minneapolis children were identified with autism in 2010. That number is fairly close to the national parent-reported prevalence of 1 in 50 that was reported in March 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But it is much higher than the CDC's more official 1 in 88 estimate, which is based on 2008 data from 14 communities across the United States. (That estimate is expected to be updated in 2014.)

The data for the U of M study was collected from the school and medical records of more than 5,000 Minneapolis children. Clinicians reviewed each child’s records for behavioral descriptions or other information consistent with autism to determine if the child had the disorder. Although it has obvious limitations, this method of identifying and tracking children with autism or other development disabilities has long been used by the CDC.

The authors of the study stress that although the data they collected revealed racial and ethnic differences in the prevalence of autism among Minneapolis’ children, it did not provide an explanation for why those differences exist.

The U of M study was funded by the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the advocacy group Autism Speaks. You can read it in full here.

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