Re: Fw: Stressful pregnancy may raise autism risk

[Guest guest]

,

do you think I can get my insurance to pay for some housecleaning

and extra babysitting because of this? LOL after all I want to be

stress free this pregnancy and how is that gonna happen with the boys

making a mess! LOL

Jacquie H

> this came from another list...

>

> " Isn't it wonderful how each of us on this earth was created just a

little bit different? " - Linus

>

> " I gave up trying to understand people long ago. Now I just let

them try to understand me. " - Snoopy

> Stressful pregnancy may raise autism risk

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> Stressful pregnancy may raise autism risk

> Fetuses found to be vulnerable in 24th to 28th week

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> Margaret Munro

> National Post

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> Pregnant women who suffer a major stressful event -- such as the

death of a loved one, loss of a job or a long-distance move -- seem

to have a greater chance of having a child with autism, researchers

say.

>

> Fetuses 24 to 28 weeks old appear to be particularly vulnerable to

the ill effects of maternal stress, which may deform their developing

brains, according to a study led by Beversdorf, a

neuroscientist at Ohio State University Medical Center.

>

> He and his colleagues charted the stress experienced by 500 women

during their pregnancies. They found the 188 mothers in the group who

had children with autism experienced much more major stress during

the 24th through 28th weeks of their pregnancy than those with normal

children.

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> Stress levels during pregnancy for the mothers of children with

autism were nearly twice those of other mothers in the study. Dr.

Beversdorf says the results indicate there is much more than genes at

work in the baffling disorder.

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> " Researchers have been examining the genetic component of the

disease for years, but there is now evidence through this study that

autism is also linked to external factors, such as prenatal stress, "

says Dr. Beversdorf, who issued a statement on the findings this week

after reporting the results at the annual meeting of the Society for

Neuroscience in San Diego.

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> Autism is a neurological disorder that usually appears before a

child's third birthday.

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> Autism is being diagnosed in increasing numbers among children in

the industrialized world. About one in 1,000 children has autism,

using the term's most narrow definition, but as many as one in 200

suffers from autism-related conditions. The children typically have

trouble interacting and communicating with others, suffer language

delays and demonstrate repetitive patterns of behaviour.

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> Parents and researchers have been searching for explanations for

decades. Environmental toxins and childhood vaccinations have been

implicated. And scientists have linked more than a dozen different

genes -- many of them involved in brain development -- to autism.

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> Several findings " are difficult to reconcile with a purely genetic

cause of autism, such as the consistent finding of an increased

incidence of March birthdays among autistic children, " Dr. Beversdorf

and his colleagues say. They also note that twin studies have shown

autism can occur in just one identical twin, making it clear that

more than genes is involved.

>

> The researchers asked almost 500 mothers to recall their stress

levels during pregnancy. The study included the 188 mothers of

children with autism, 212 women who had normal children and 92 women

who had children with Down's syndrome, a neurological disorder caused

by chromosomal abnormality. Life-altering events, such as the death

of a spouse or losing a job, qualified as " major stressors. "

>

> The researchers found stress levels for the mothers of children

with autism were nearly twice those of the other mothers. " A

significant difference was detected for the autism group, with a peak

at weeks 24 to 28, " they report. They say the timing seems to

correlate with the periods of development of the fetal cerebellum --

a portion of the brain that is structurally different in autistic

children.

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> The findings are " certainly provocative " and worthy of more

research, says Bryson, a chair of research for autism at

Dalhousie University in Halifax.

>

> Dr. Bryson's research suggests brain damage much earlier in

pregnancy -- toward the end of the first month -- can cause autism.

But she says there may be many other factors, both genetic and

environmental, at work. Complicating things even more, the multiple

factors may be interacting.

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