Diagnoses of autism are on the rise, but is this the result of more children being affected by the condition, or is more of a consequence of broader criteria and more screening? In this episode: a look at a new study about the number of children diagnosed with autism and what this research shows—and doesn’t show.
Dr. Christine Ladd-Acosta is an autism researcher and vice-director of the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities. She is the lead Maryland investigator on a national study about the rate of autism.
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a faculty member in health policy, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland’s Health Department.
RFK Jr.’s autism study to amass medical records of many Americans—CBS News
The NIH-Funded Autism Study Hoping to Pinpoint Gene-Environmental Interplay—Public Health On Call (March 2025)
Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism. Why Do Some People Think They Do?—Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health
Discovering How Environment Affects Autism—Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health Magazine (2023)
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Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.
