SchaferAutismReport: ‘Environment’ Poses a Knotty Challenge in Autism

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‘Environment’ Poses a Knotty Challenge in Autism

By Perri Klass, M.D., NY

Times.

Parents of children with autism often ask pediatricians like me about

the cause of the condition, and parents-to-be often ask what they can

do to reduce the risk. But although there is more research in this area

than ever before, it sometimes feels as if it’s getting harder, not

easier, to provide answers that do justice to the evidence and also

offer practical guidance.

Recent research has taught us more about

the complexity of the genetics of autism, but the evidence also has

suggested an important role for environmental exposures. It has become

a very complicated picture: Genes matter, but we usually can’t tell

how. Environmental exposures matter, but we usually don’t know which.

In July, a study of autism in twins was

published online in Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers looked

at almost 200 sets of twins in California. In each pair, one twin was

autistic.

The study sought to determine how likely

the second twin was to have some form of autism. If autism was highly

heritable, identical twins should have been far more likely to both

have autism than fraternal twins. But the researchers found that

fraternal twins were unexpectedly likely to both have autism.

The implication is that something in

their common gestational or early childhood experience may have

contributed to this similarity.

“The data definitely did surprise me,â€

said Dr. Joachim Hallmayer, the lead author of the study and an

associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford

University. “I expected the fraternal twin rates to be lower than what

we found."

This new twin study supported the

importance of genetics, but also the role of environmental

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In

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NEWS

‘Environment’

Poses a Knotty Challenge in Autism

Indiana Mandates Autism Training For First Responders

RESEARCH

New

Study Co-Funded By ARI Finds Innate Immune Abnormalities Linked To ASD

Monkey

See, Monkey Do? The Role of Mirror Neurons in Human Behavior

RESOURCES

SustainAbility: NY Farm Gives Adults With Autism 'A Life's Work'

PEOPLE

Autistic Patient Strangled to Death in NY Mental Facilitily by

Supervisor

Md. Mom Who Killed Son, Herself, Agonized Over Education Costs For

Special-Needs Child, Debt

Utah fire Captain Charged With Child Sex Abuse

Parenthood Actor Does Not Have Autism

PUBLIC HEALTH

Prescriptions for Antidepressants Increasing Among Individuals With No

Psychiatric Diagnosis, U.S. Study Finds

ERRATA

MMR Shot Fears Gain Support

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