New Research Shows Environment May Factor Into Autism
Posted: June 1, 2014 at 3:49 pm
By Janice Wood Associate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on May 31, 2014
New research has found that some cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may result from environmental influences rather than gene mutations.
Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University say their research may help explain why older mothers are at an increased risk for having children with autism.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one in 68 U.S. children has an ASD a 30 percent rise from one in 88 two years ago.
A significant number of people with an ASD have gene mutations, but a number of studies including those involving identical twins, in which one twin has ASD and the other does not have shown that not all ASD cases arise from mutations, according to the researchers.
A study of more than 14,000 autistic children published earlier this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that gene abnormalities could account for only half the risk for developing ASD.
The other half was attributable to nongenetic influences, meaning environmental factors, such as conditions in the womb or a pregnant womans stress level or diet, researchers explain.
Previous studies have also found that fathers over the age of 40 are more likely to have children with an ASD, probably because of gene mutations that accumulate over the years in sperm-making cells. Yet little is known about older mothers and the connection to ASD, according to the Einstein researchers.
That is why they set out to look for genetic as well as environmental influences that might account for older mothers increased risk for having children with ASD.
Their study, led by Esther Berko, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the lab of Dr. John Greally involved 47 children with ASD and 48 typically developing (TD) children of women aged 35 and over.
Continued here:
New Research Shows Environment May Factor Into Autism