Tag Archives: Autism
Research on Twins Finds Correlation Between Birth Weight, Autism
A researcher from Northwestern University in Illinois found that twins born with a low birth weight were three times more likely to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD) than their heavier counterparts. Molly Losh from the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Northwestern studied over 3,700 same-sex twin sets from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study of Sweden (CATSS). She found that heavier twins had a lower risk of developing certain birth defects like ASD; for every 100 grams, the child’s risk of developing ASD decreased by 13 percent. This research is significant, because medical professionals have long considered autism a genetic disorder. Losh’s research, however, indicates that environmental factors may play a larger role in the development of ASD than scientists previously thought. Often, one of the twins would develop ASD and the other would not; considering that many of these twins share the same…
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New Twin Study Suggests Connection Between Autism and Environmental Factors
Recently, an autism study out of Stanford University’s medical school yielded results that challenge long-held beliefs about autism’s origins. The study, centered on 192 sets of twins with autism, and found that sets of fraternal twins had much higher levels of shared autistic similarities than expected. Previously, scientists had assumed that 90 percent of autism risk was tied to genetics, with only 10 percent tied to environmental risks. Fraternal twins only share half of their genetic material, while identical twins share all their genes, but the findings from the research did not back up the assumed percentages. The high levels of similarities in fraternal twins led doctors and researchers to conclude that environmental factors, not just genetics, may put people at risk for autism. According to the co-author of the study, doctors and scientists should focus future research on events during pregnancy to understand autism’s origins. The researchers in the…
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Autism In Premature Babies Five Times More Likely
A new study on autism has demonstrated that the risk of developing autism among children who were born prematurely is five times greater than among kids born after a full-term pregnancy. The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that five out of every 100 young adults born weighing less than four and a half pounds had autism. This is significantly higher than the estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one out of every 100 eight-year-old kids has autism. The professor who led the study, Jennifer Pinto-Martin of the University of Pennsylvania, says she “was surprised”. “I knew it would be higher than the general population…but I thought the rate would be about double”, she said. Those with autism in the study also showed a higher prevalence for other psychiatric disorders, such as phobias and attention-deficit disorder. Pinto-Martin said that although her study did not…
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Posted in Autism, Birth Defects, Birth Trauma Tagged Autism, Birth Defects, birth trauma lawyer, brain injury Comments Off on Autism In Premature Babies Five Times More Likely
