December 18, 2023
- A recent study has examined whether exposure to a mixture of six phthalate metabolites during pregnancy is associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)-related behaviors in children. The authors used data from two prospective pregnancy and birth cohorts – the Health Outcomes and Measures of the Environment (HOME) and the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) – to assess the joint and individual associations of phthalate exposure with ASD-related traits measured by Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) scores at ages 3-8 years. The study found that the cohort-specific effect sizes of the phthalates-SRS associations were small and imprecise, suggesting that if there are associations between phthalate exposure during pregnancy and child SRS scores, they may differ across populations with different genetic backgrounds. The authors concluded that further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings.
- The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) has released its Summary of Advances in Autism Research 2022. The report summarizes the top 20 advances in autism biomedical and services research selected by IACC members. Two PDF versions are available: the full publication and the easy-read version that uses plain language to summarize the entire publication in a brief, accessible format.
- According to a new analysis conducted by KFF, almost 700,000 people across 38 states are on waiting or interest lists for home and community-based services, up 6% since last year. The majority of those waiting for services are individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, while seniors and adults with physical disabilities account for the rest. While people currently wait an average of three years for waivers, KFF found they may have access to other services through Medicaid state plans. Additionally, KFF warns that shortages of direct support professionals could exacerbate waiting and interest lists in the future.
- A new report reveals that nearly two-thirds of specialty centers that conduct autism evaluations have wait times longer than four months. The report, sponsored by Cognoa, an AI-powered diagnostic tool for autism, highlights the dysfunctional state of pediatric autism diagnosis in the US. The survey reached 111 specialty centers across the US, and its findings underscore the need for early intervention, particularly for nonwhite children, females, and those from rural areas or lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are often diagnosed even later or missed altogether. The report concludes that policies are urgently needed to support the reimbursement and access pathways of available FDA-regulated diagnostics that equip more providers to evaluate, diagnose and manage children within primary care.
