Sonja Puzic, CTVNews.ca Published Wednesday, February 26, 2014 11:34AM EST Last Updated Wednesday, February 26, 2014 3:47PM EST
New guidelines for defining autism spectrum disorders may reduce the number of diagnoses by almost one-third, according to new research from Columbia University.
A review of relevant literature and data, published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, raises questions about the future of children who have developmental delays, but no longer meet criteria for an autism diagnosis.
Kristine M. Kulage, who led the review, said the new guidelines, issued last year by the American Psychiatric Association, may leave thousands of children in the U.S. without an autism diagnosis needed to qualify for medical benefits and social services.
The systematic review by Kulages team at the Columbia University School of Nursing found a 31 per cent decrease in autism spectrum disorder diagnoses using the new version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, compared to the number of cases that would have been diagnosed under the previous version.
DSM, the so-called bible of psychiatry, is widely used by experts in both U.S. and Canada to diagnose and classify mental health disorders.
The changes introduced in 2013 affect not only the definition of autism spectrum disorders, but a number of other conditions, including types of obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression triggered by the loss of a loved one.
The old version of the manual, DSM-IV-TR, divided the broad definition of autism spectrum disorder into three subgroups: autistic disorder, Aspergers disorder and pervasive development disorder.
The new version, DSM-5, has eliminated those subgroups and introduced a more limited range of criteria for autism spectrum disorders. The term Aspergers syndrome has been dropped.
A new category, called social communication disorder, or SCD, was added to help diagnose children who have problems communicating both verbally and non-verbally, but dont exhibit other symptoms associated with autism.
Read more here:
Autism diagnoses may drop by a third under new guidelines: study