Conflict of Interest is the theme of this website. Is there a conflict of interest in the manufacture and approval of vaccines? Watch this video:
Those who are accused of opposing vaccines actually want the following reforms undertaken;
- Split the MMR into three vaccines – each given at a separate time.
- Postpone age of the child until 36 months when the immune system is more mature and can withstand the side-effects of the vaccine.
note: There may be patent issues involved motivating the inaction on the part of the Drug Manufacturers and the CDC. The authorities have continuosly administered and then abandoned different versions of the MMR Vaccine when the side-effects in the target population have gotten out of hand. At what number or percentage of disabilities and deaths per population do we say that these side-effects have gotten out hand? This will be explored in a further post.
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1992
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.82.3.364
Read More: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.82.3.364
BACKGROUND. Using data from the 1988 National Health Interview Survey, this article presents national estimates of the prevalence and impact of childhood chronic conditions. METHODS. Proxy responses to a checklist of child health conditions administered for 17,110 children under 18 years of age were used. Conditions were classified as chronic if they were first noticed more than 3 months prior to the interview or if they were the type that would ordinarily be of extended duration, such as arthritis. RESULTS. An estimated 31% of children were affected by chronic conditions. Among these children, highly prevalent conditions included respiratory allergies 9.7 per 100, repeated ear infections 8.3 per 100 and asthma 4.3 per 100. These children can be divided into three groups: 66% with mild conditions that result in little or no bother or activity limitation; 29% with conditions of moderate severity that result in some bother or limitation of activity, but not both; and 5% with severe conditions that cause frequent bother and limitation of activity. The 5% with severe conditions accounted for 19% of physician contacts and 33% of hospital days related to chronic illness. CONCLUSIONS. Childhood chronic conditions have highly variable impacts on children’s activities and use of health care.
Read More: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.82.3.364
The changing landscape of disability in childhood.
Abstract
Americans’ perceptions of childhood disability have changed dramatically over the past century, as have their ideas about health and illness, medical developments, threats to children’s health and development, and expectations for child functioning. Neal Halfon, Amy Houtrow, Kandyce Larson, and Paul Newacheck examine how these changes have influenced the risk of poor health and disability and how recent policies to address the needs of children with disabilities have evolved. The authors examine the prevalence in the United States of childhood disability and of the conditions responsible for impairment, as well as trends in the prevalence of chronic conditions associated with disability. They find that childhood disability is increasing and that emotional, behavioral, and neurological disabilities are now more prevalent than physical impairments. They stress the importance of, and lack of progress in, improving socioeconomic disparities in disability prevalence, as well as the need for better measures and greater harmonization of data and data sources across different child-serving agencies and levels of government. They call on policy makers to strengthen existing data systems to advance understanding of the causes of childhood disabilities and guide the formulation of more strategic, responsive, and effective policies, programs, and interventions. The authors offer a new and forward-looking definition of childhood disability that reflects emerging and developmentally responsive notions of childhood health and disability. They highlight the relationship between health, functioning, and the environment; the gap in function between a child’s abilities and the norm; and how that gap limits the child’s ability to engage successfully with his or her world. Their definition also recognizes the dynamic nature of disability and how the experience of disability can be modified by the child’s environment.
Common Autism Misconceptions
Risk Factor Misconceptions
Misconception:
Autism is caused by mutations in only one gene.
Fact:
ASD is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. To date, variations in almost 300 genes have been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and these explain less than 10% of individuals with autism.
Misconception:
The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism.
Fact:
Today, no scientific studies have established a causative link between the MMR vaccine and autism. The original study that reported a correlation between MMR vaccination and autism has been retracted and repudiated by the scientific community. Studies conducted by researchers in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Japan have failed to establish any causative link between vaccinations and autism. Unfortunately, although the vaccine-autism link has been widely discredited, the dangerous misconception that vaccines cause autism persists in the face of no sound scientific evidence.. SEE ORIGINAL
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CDC Data & Statistics
Prevalence
- About 1 in 68 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network. [Read summary] [Read article]
- ASD is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. [Read summary] [Read article]
- ASD is about 4.5 times more common among boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189). [Read article]
- Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America have identified individuals with ASD with an average prevalence of between 1% and 2%. [Data table]
- About 1 in 6 children in the United States had a developmental disability in 2006-2008, ranging from mild disabilities such as speech and language impairments to serious developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, and autism. [Read summary]
Learn more about prevalence of ASD »
Learn more about the ADDM Network »
Risk Factors and Characteristics
- Studies have shown that among identical twins, if one child has ASD, then the other will be affected about 36-95% of the time. In non-identical twins, if one child has ASD, then the other is affected about 0-31% of the time. [1-4]
- Parents who have a child with ASD have a 2%–18% chance of having a second child who is also affected.[5,6]
- ASD tends to occur more often in people who have certain genetic or chromosomal conditions. About 10% of children with autism are also identified as having Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, or other genetic and chromosomal disorders.[7-10]
- Almost half (about 44%) of children identified with ASD has average to above average intellectual ability. [Read article]
- Children born to older parents are at a higher risk for having ASD. [Read summary]
- A small percentage of children who are born prematurely or with low birth weight are at greater risk for having ASD. [Read summary]
- ASD commonly co-occurs with other developmental, psychiatric, neurologic, chromosomal, and genetic diagnoses. The co-occurrence of one or more non-ASD developmental diagnoses is 83%. The co-occurrence of one or more psychiatric diagnoses is 10%. [Read summary]
Diagnosis
- Research has shown that a diagnosis of autism at age 2 can be reliable, valid, and stable. [Read summary] [Read summary]
- Even though ASD can be diagnosed as early as age 2 years, most children are not diagnosed with ASD until after age 4 years. The median age of first diagnosis by subtype is as follows. [Read article]
- Autistic disorder: 3 years, 10 months
- Pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS): 4 years, 1 month
- Asperger disorder: 6 years, 2 months
- Studies have shown that parents of children with ASD notice a developmental problem before their child’s first birthday. Concerns about vision and hearing were more often reported in the first year, and differences in social, communication, and fine motor skills were evident from 6 months of age.[Read summary] [Read summary]
Economic Costs
- The total costs per year for children with ASD in the United States were estimated to be between $11.5 billion – $60.9 billion (2011 US dollars). This significant economic burden represents a variety of direct and in-direct costs, from medical care to special education to lost parental productivity. [Read article] [Read article]
- Children and adolescents with ASD had average medical expenditures that exceeded those without ASD by $4,110–$6,200 per year. On average, medical expenditures for children and adolescents with ASD were 4.1–6.2 times greater than for those without ASD. Differences in median expenditures ranged from $2,240 to $3,360 per year with median expenditures 8.4–9.5 times greater. [Read article]
- In 2005, the average annual medical costs for Medicaid-enrolled children with ASD were $10,709 per child, which was about six times higher than costs for children without ASD ($1,812). [Read summary]
- In addition to medical costs, intensive behavioral interventions for children with ASD cost $40,000 to $60,000 per child per year.[11]
