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Statement by Autism Expert
13 July 2007
Following recent media coverage surrounding research currently being undertaken at the Cambridge University Autism Research Centre, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the Autism Research Centre, made the following comments:
"The Autism Research Centre is currently analysing the results of a five-year study into the prevalence of autism amongst children in Cambridgeshire. This analysis is by no means complete. However, inappropriate and premature media coverage of this on-going work led to further claims in the press of a substantial rise in autism.
"In the absence of final figures from our prevalence study, the best estimate to date of the prevalence of autism is the 1 per cent figure published in the Lancet in 2006.
"It is unfortunate that this press coverage did not wait until the study was complete and had been through peer review, since this is considered good practice in science and health -journalism. It is doubly unfortunate that this alarmist media coverage reignited the debate over the now discredited link between the MMR vaccination and autism. Our research did not look at MMR so it was irrelevant to raise this.
"It is my view that any apparent rise in rates of autism is likely to be driven by five factors: better recognition, greater awareness, growth in services, a widening of the definition of autism and a shift towards viewing autism as a spectrum rather than a categorical condition."
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