Posted on 01/06/2010 9:05:59 AM PST by GauchoUSA
U.S. researchers have identified 10 locations in California that have double the rates of autism found in surrounding areas, and these clusters were located in neighborhoods with high concentrations of white, highly educated parents.
Researchers at the University of California Davis had hoped to uncover pockets of autism that might reveal clues about triggers in the environment that could explain rising rates of autism, which affects as many as one in 110 U.S. children.
But the findings likely say more about the U.S. healthcare system than the causes of autism, said researcher Irva Hertz-Picciotto of UC Davis' MIND Institute, whose study will be released online Wednesday in the journal Autism Research.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Hmm, maybe because they are all Danish and no one can make more money than his/her neighbor?
"In this country, we have a lot of people who are uninsured. They may not have someone to go to if they have suspicions about their child"
What a horrible country we live in...Just what liberals are saying.
I wonder if they innoculate the heck out of babies and small children there too?
Is this a case for govt healthcare/?? .. OR.. a case for government CAUSED healthcare?
Do we know where these clusers are? I live in Silicon Valley, and I’m pretty sure one of the clusters is here.
So they have found 10 locations with a large number of doctors who are predisposed to diagnose autism.
At least the docs have slowed down with the peanut allergy diagnoses.
I knew a woman who had two autistic children and was receiving a lot of help from the state of CA. California mandates that all special education students have mental health counseling through the public health system (they put them on ritalin). They also provide respite service for the parents and all day pre-school for the handicapped.
The point is that this woman was told that autistic children are more often found in families of where the father is an engineer or math brained type. I have no idea of the veracity of the statement, but her husband was an engineer.
Probably determined by how easy it is to get the insurance companies to pay up.
CA has some of the more generous benefits for autistic kids.
Maybe the best. People with autistic kids don’t leave CA since they get all the state help.
Exactly, upper middle class parents, a fairly new diagnosis, less then 2 full generations, if compared to the 50s there would be a real spike since autism wasn’t a diagnosable disease.
However, this would support emerging data that suggests older parents to higher incidents of children with autism. Further studies also show correlation of fertility drugs and IV birth to autism, which older couples are more likely to use than younger fertile couples. So these pockets in white affluent areas so not surprise me as white affluent couple wait to have children and use fertility drugs and IV at a higher rate than the general population.
I believe some earlier research showed that people with high IQs tended to have more autistic children. (I have no time to dig around on the internet for it right now though.) If true, that they might tend to live in similar areas (cities) would not be surprising, but the geographic location would not be causal.
Your point may be tied with what I heard (see post 12) since people with higher IQs may tend to wait later in life to have children, and may tend to use IVF or other similar procedures more often. It would be interesting to see a detailed “census” of autistic families.
All the libs in Silly Con Valley and the vulture capitalists there tell us how clean high tech is. Maybe that hot chick lib Erin Brokovich with the silicon chest (played by Julia Roberts) can sue Apple.
A lot of dope smoking and drug taking in MexiFornia too.
Interesting. I know a woman who also has two austistic kids (fraternal twins) and she herself is an Engineer.
Or maybe money causes autism...or autism is proportional to the amount of toilets you've got in your house...or...
Wait till they discover the link between old age and cancer. The death panels will love that one.
CA provides those same benefits to all children who are referred by physicians for special education. So, just imagine the costs to the tax payers.
There is no connection between autism and vaccinations. None. It has been proven over and over. There is a very real risk from people not vaccinating their children. Check out some videos of kids with pertussis. It will make your hair stand on end.
I agree with the other comments. Autism has been found to have genetic links. It is also found more often in the children of older parents. And, it is often found where there are extra benefits provided for autistic children, as opposed to kids with other mental issues or retardation. Doctors know that more resources are available to autistic kids, so they have a tendency to use that diagnosis to help out the parents in getting more help.
You have heard of Asperger’s syndrome, the so-called Bill Gates syndrome? It’s just a variant form of Aspers. I think that my brother has it. It seems to be an over abundance of logic and a deficit of emotion, combined with an exaggerated sense of self interest. There are all levels and a myriad of types of autism, it seems. When we were in grade school the school board sent a delegation to our home to inform my parents that my brother had scored higher on the IQ test than anyone in the school district had ever scored, yet, he was essentially a disinterested student.
You mentioned genetics. Very lkely some are more susceptible than others for just this reason.
I have no kids and I survived my childhood but these days, I am still suspicious of over ‘doctoring’.. and your point on docs misdiagnosing to assist the parents get help elsewhere is a good point.
How many different vaccines are kids subjected too these days before they hit 6? How recent are those studies?
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