Re:CDC officials’ resignation emails
by franktankbank on Thursday August 28, 2025 @08:33AM
(#45051383)
They should follow them into the job market and see the effects as an adult for those with "no measurable functional limitations".
The category doesn't imply those cases are no-ops. It's used to highlight the sensitivity of our diagnostics.
On the podcast, Durkin frames improved detection as a positive, because it means people will get the care they need.
Maureen Durkin, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, just presented a paper [1] (currently in peer review) studying 8 year olds from 2000 to 2016, categorizing and counting autism severity over time. The most severe cases were unchanged, or decreased, and the largest change was in those with no measurable functional limitations.
This unpublished paper suggests that identification of children with milder symptoms is the strongest driver.
[0] https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/autism-the-real-reason...
[1] "Trends in the Prevalence of Autism By Adaptive Level between 2000-2016: Evidence from a Population-Based Sample of 8-Year-Old Children in the United States" S. M. Furnier and M. S. Durkin