Four in every 1,000 children aged 6 to 12 in China have autism, an incidence that experts say is higher than expected.

在4岁至12岁儿童中，每1000名儿童就有4名患自闭症，专家说这比预期发病率要高很多。

The figure has been uncovered in the first national epidemiological investigation¹ into the prevalence of autism spectrum² disorder³.

这个数据是由中国第一项孤独症障碍趋势调查显示的。

Symptoms include differences and disabilities in many areas including social communication skills, motor skills, and sometimes intellectual skills as well as unusual responses to sensory⁴ input⁵ such as unusual sensitivity to light and sound, or sensory cravings.

症状包括在许多领域，包括社会交往技能的差异和障碍，运动技能，有时知识技能以及感觉输入，如对光线和声音的异常感觉，或感觉的渴望异常。

The investigation figures did not include those children who stay at home or those in special schools, as they had already been diagnosed as ASD patients, said Wang Yi, vice-president of the Children's Hospital at Fudan University in Shanghai, which led the project.

这项调查数据不包括在家学习和在特殊学校学习的儿童，因为他们已经被鉴定为自闭症患者，上海复旦大学附属儿童医院的副主任王毅说道。

More than half of the children in the project were diagnosed with autism for the first time, Wang said.

多于一般的儿童是在这次调查中第一次被诊断为自闭症，王主任说道。

"Such data obtained at the national level for the first time shows that ASD is much more serious than we imagined. The figure is close to the incidence rate of epilepsy among children in China," Wang said.

“这个数据是全国第一次调查自闭症的数据，明显要比想象的严重很多。这个数据接近全国儿童患癫痫的发病率，”王说道。

The statistics were announced at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Shanghai on Saturday.

这项数据在上周六于上海召开的自闭症国际会议上发布。

China is not the only country with a high incidence of autism. Last year, the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said one in every 68 children in the US has autism.

中国并不是唯一的自闭症发病率高的国家。去年，美国疾病预防与控制中心数据显示，每68个儿童中就有1个儿童患有自病症。

A total of 127,000 children were involved in the Chinese project, started in May 2013.

共有12万7千名儿童加入到这项调查，这项调查于2013年5月开始。

Geraldine Dawson, a professor of psychiatry⁶ and behavioral sciences at Duke University in North Carolina, said babies who later develop autism exhibit behavior suggesting that some symptoms emerged when they were just 6 months old, and that parents should be alerted.

北卡罗莱纳州的杜克大学教授Geraldine Dawson，从事精神病学和行为科学研究，说道宝宝在后来出现的行为异常的自闭症病症早在宝宝6个月大时就有显露，父母应该提高警惕。