Episode Description
About this episode:
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.
Guest:
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.
Host:
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.
Show links and related content:
-
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)
Transcript information:
Looking for episode transcripts? Open our podcast on the Apple Podcasts app (desktop or mobile) or the Spotify mobile app to access an auto-generated transcript of any episode. Closed captioning is also available for every episode on our YouTube channel.
Contact us:
Have a question about something you heard? Looking for a transcript? Want to suggest a topic or guest? Contact us via email or visit our website.
Follow us:
-
Here's our RSS feed
Note: These podcasts are a conversation between the participants, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins University.
