UAMS, CDC Find 3% of Arkansas 8-Year-Olds, 2.5% of 4-Year-Olds Diagnosed with Autism

By Yavonda Chase

LITTLE ROCK — One in 34 (3.0%) of 8-year-old children in Arkansas were identified with autism spectrum disorder by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) Arkansas Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (AR ADDM) program in 2022, according to an analysis published April 15 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Surveillance Summaries.

This percentage is about the same as the average percentage identified (3.2%) in all 16 communities the CDC tracks, highlighting the variability across ADDM sites.

Findings from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network offer critical insights about the number of children with autism spectrum disorder, the characteristics of those children, and the age at which they are first evaluated and diagnosed.

UAMS, CDC Find 3% of Arkansas 8-Year-Olds, 2.5% of 4-Year-Olds Diagnosed with Autism

One in 34 (3.0%) of 8-year-old children in Arkansas were identified with autism spectrum disorder by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences’ (UAMS) Arkansas Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (AR ADDM) program in 2022.