October 16, 2023
- A new brief report published in JAMA Psychiatry has estimated the prevalence of autism for adults who receive Medicaid claims. The authors used claims data to examine the autism prevalence by year, age, race and ethnicity in order to understand enrollment patterns. Unsurprisingly, the study reported a considerable and growing population of adults with autism enrolled in Medicaid. Across all ages, autism prevalence increased from 4.2 per 1000 enrollees in 2011 to 9.5 per 1000 enrollees in 2019. The largest increase over the nine years was in the 25- to 34-year age group (195%), and the smallest was in the 55- to 64-year age group (45%). The study’s findings suggest that Medicaid is an important insurance provider for an increasing number of adults with autism and can be a valuable resource for understanding the health of the autistic population.
- A recent Italian review article discusses the limited research available on the prevalence of emotional dysregulation (ED) in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This new research highlights the difficulties that people on the spectrum have in identifying and verbalizing emotions and their increased risk for depression and anxiety. The article suggests a link between the core features of ASD and ED, with a neurodevelopmental basis for ED in line with the transnosographic conceptualization of the autism spectrum. The authors recognize that while there is some evidence on the bio-neurological correlates of ED in ASD, further studies are needed to evaluate ED as a possible step in the pathway that may lead to the development of other psychiatric conditions.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expanding its Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network to include the prevalence of cerebral palsy in its surveillance. Five of its ADDM Network sites will now track the incidence of cerebral palsy in their communities in addition to autism. Previously, the network only tracked cerebral palsy in 8-year-olds, but the data on the condition was last collected in 2010. With dedicated funding for cerebral palsy surveillance through 2026, sites in five states are expected to collect data on both 4-year-old and 8-year-old children. The new tracking activities will address important data gaps on the prevalence of cerebral palsy among children in the United States and disparities in prevalence and early identification.
- A recent rodent study has established that the protein p53 plays a critical role in regulating sociability, repetitive behavior, and hippocampus-dependent learning and memory in mice. This new study provides a better understanding of the relationship between the protein-coding gene TP53 and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders like autism spectrum disorder. The researchers behind this work lowered hippocampal p53 levels in mice. They observed that decreased p53 levels promoted repetitive behavior, reduced sociability, and impaired hippocampus-dependent learning and memory, especially in male mice. The study also found that p53 levels were elevated after a period of active communication between hippocampal neurons called long-term potentiation, which is related to positive learning and memory outcomes.
