New survey reflects a doubling of autism rates in the U.S.

A new government survey finds that autism rates among children in the U.S. have doubled since 2003. The findings yield more questions than answers.

The blurred lines of autism - from the perspectives of both the range of demonstrable and diagnosable disorder to the fundamental lack of understanding in terms of its cause - has long offered frustration and unease among affected families and communities. According to a defining statement on the Autism Society's web site, "There is no known single cause for autism, but it is generally accepted that it is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function." There have been attempts to link autism to vaccines, heredity, genetics, and a broad scale of medical problems. There has been evidence of a link between autism and influenza. But these links are sketches in the dark. This unsettling fact, along with the breadth of the autistic mild-to-severe spectrum, is the core tragedy of the disorder. Now a new government survey has been released that highlights a disturbing doubling in the rates of autism in the United States. According to the new figures, autism now affects 1.1 percent of American children - up from .57 percent in 2003, the last time the survey was conducted. The findings unfortunately yield more questions than answers. It is unclear whether the criteria for diagnosis have become more fine tuned or if the causes of autism have become more acute or if the answers are a combination of both scenarios. "This should not be the 'official' estimate," Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at University Hospitals in Cleveland, told ABC News. "While the authors state that the survey results [and previous surveys] are similar to results of reviews of records, both have a limitation -- the assumption that the parent report and the records accurately reflect the diagnosis."