Routine screening for autism in all children is not necessary because the current tests simply aren't proven to work, says a new report from researchers at McMaster University.
The study, published in the online edition of the journal Pediatrics, finds there is little benefit to screening all children, regardless of whether any concern has been raised by parents.
"Not only are there no good screening tools or effective treatments but there is no evidence yet that routine screening does more good than harm," says the report.
The report comes in contrast to a recent recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics, which said autism screening should be worked into routine check-ups for children.
Dr. Jan Willem Gorter, a researcher in McMaster's CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research and associate professor of pediatrics, said the current screening procedures -- as well as treatments for autism -- simply aren't effective and shouldn't be used across the general population until they are.
Unlike other screening procedures where the results have been studied in randomized controlled trials, such as for breast cancer, autism screening has undergone no such scrutiny.
"None of the autism screening tests for the general population that we have today have proven accuracy," said Gorter in a news release.
"That is, they aren't good enough to accurately detect children who have autism or to accurately detect those who don't."
The report states that the current autism tests fail to meet three criteria for determining whether a screening process is effective: high sensitivity, high specificity and high predictive value.
Instead of instituting community screening of all preschoolers, the researchers recommended careful surveillance and assessment of those preschoolers who demonstrate language, social or cognitive problems, which can be indicators of autism spectrum disorder.
The researchers, based at the McMaster campus in Hamilton, Ont., reviewed past autism literature to assess the effectiveness of community screening programs.
Symptoms of autism, or autism spectrum disorders, include differences and disabilities in social and communication skills, fine and gross motor skills, and sometimes intellectual skills.
