Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Reports Findings in Autism Spectrum Disorders (Large increase in ASD prevalence in Israel between 2017 and 2021): Developmental Diseases and Conditions – Autism Spectrum Disorders

Education Daily Report

2024 JAN 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Education Daily Report -- New research on Developmental Diseases and Conditions - Autism Spectrum Disorders is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Beer-Sheva, Israel, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Accurate estimation of annual changes in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) prevalence is critical for planning the expansion of diagnostic, education, and intervention services at an adequate rate. Previous studies from Israel have reported that ASD prevalence among 8-year-old children has increased from estimates of 0.3% in 2008 to 0.65% in 2015 and 1.3% in 2018.”

Funders for this research include Israel Science Foundation, Ministry of Science and Technology, Israel, Azrieli Foundation.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, “Here, we analyzed data acquired from the National Insurance Institute of Israeli (NII), a governmental organization that approves and monitors all ASD children who receive welfare services in Israel, and Clalit Health Services (CHS), the largest Health Maintenance Organization in Israel that provides health services to ~52% of the population. Data from both sources included annual data files from 2017 to 2021 containing the number of ASD cases per year of birth for 1-17-year-old children. This allowed us to estimate annual ASD prevalence among 3.5 million children born between 2000 and 2020 in Israel. Both data sources revealed a nearly two-fold increase in ASD prevalence among 1-17-year-old children from 2017 to 2021. Estimated prevalence rates differed across age groups with 2-3-year-old (day-care) children increasing from 0.27% to 1.19% (>4 fold change), 4-6-year-old (pre-school) children increasing from 0.8% to 1.83%, and 8-year-old children increasing from 0.82% to 1.56% in NII data. These results demonstrate that autism prevalence continues to increase in Israel with a shift towards diagnosis at earlier ages.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These findings highlight the challenge facing health and education service providers in meeting the needs of a rapidly growing autism population.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Large increase in ASD prevalence in Israel between 2017 and 2021. Autism Research, 2024. Autism Research can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Autism Research - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1939-3806)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Shirley Solomon, Azrieli National Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopment Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Additional authors for this research include Ilan Dinstein, Michael Zats, Ronit Shusel, Raphael Lottner, Bella Ben Gershon, Gal Meiri, Idan Menashe and Dorit Shmueli.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.3085. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Autism Research is: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

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