All parents worry about their kids' health. I just read this in the New York Times:

Children are far more likely to be affected by other less lethal but more common chronic illnesses, like asthma (9 percent of children under 18); obesity (16 percent of children 2 to 19); and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (7 percent of children 3 to 17).

Autism, which receives a lot of attention in the news media, affects fewer than 1 percent of children, according to a national report on the prevalence of autism in 8-year-olds issued last year by the C.D.C., which found a mean rate of 6.7 cases of autism per 1,000 8-year-olds.