Generally incurable and ongoing, chronic disease affects approximately 133 million Americans, representing 45% of the total population of this country. By 2020, that number is projected to grow to an estimated 157 million, with 81 million having multiple conditions.[4]
Chronic diseases touch the lives of every American, one way or another. [5]
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, between 1990 and 1994 the percentage of children under age 18 with chronic conditions that limited any of their activities as a result of the chronic condition, rose from 4.9 percent to 6.7 percent. In 2007, approximately 8 percent of children ages 5 to 17 were reported by parents to have activity limitation due to at least one chronic illness or disability. More than 50 million Americans under 65 years old have some type of pre-existing condition. [6]
In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network reported that approximately 1 in 88 children in the United States has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. This represents an increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders compared to earlier in the decade when prevalence was cited as 1 in 110 and 1 in 166. In the 1980’s autism prevalence was reported as 1 in 10,000. In the nineties, prevalence was 1 in 2500 and later 1 in 1000. It is problematic to compare autism rates over the last three decades, as the diagnostic criteria for autism have changed with each revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). In 1983 the DSM did not recognize PDD-NOS or Asperger's syndrome, and the criteria for autistic disorder (AD) were more restrictive. [7]
[CJF emphasis added]