Study: Autism Is Not Rising

According to a study published Wednesday in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, autism is not actually rising in the United States. Autism diagnoses have tripled in recent years, but the study suggests this is only because young people with intellectual or developmental disabilities have been increasingly reclassified as autistic. The study points out that in 1975, just one in 5,000 were diagnosed with autism; by 2012, that number reached one in 68. “This new research proves the first direct evidence that much of the increase may be attributable merely to a reclassification of individuals with related neurological disorders rather than to an actual increase in the rate of new cases of autism,” the study read.