Diagnostic Disparities

Autism's Earliest Symptoms Not Evident in Children Under 6 Months

Submitted by Anonymous on February 16, 2010 - 10:31
Source: 
Science Daily
Link: 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216091009.htm
Date Published: 
February 16, 2010
Abstract: 

A study of the development of autism in infants, comparing the behavior of the siblings of children diagnosed with autism to that of babies developing normally, has found that the nascent symptoms of the condition -- a lack of shared eye contact, smiling and communicative babbling -- are not present at 6 months, but emerge gradually and only become apparent during the latter part of the first year of life.

Link Between Advanced Maternal Age and Autism Confirmed

Submitted by Anonymous on February 8, 2010 - 10:33
Source: 
Science Daily
Link: 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100208102411.htm
Date Published: 
February 8, 2010
Abstract: 

Advanced maternal age is linked to a significantly elevated risk of having a child with autism, regardless of the father's age, according to an exhaustive study of all births in California during the 1990s by UC Davis Health System researchers. Advanced paternal age is associated with elevated autism risk only when the father is older and the mother is under 30, the study found.

LA Confidential: Studies Seek Reasons for Autism's Rise

Submitted by Anonymous on February 1, 2010 - 10:38
Source: 
Wall Street Journal
Link: 
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748703422904575039351632663996-lMyQjAxMTAwMDAwMjEwNDIyWj.html
Date Published: 
February 1, 2010
Abstract: 

California-based studies suggest that local environmental or social factors are driving the high autism-diagnosis rates. And they conclude that childhood vaccinations—which some people fear is a factor behind rising autism—are not to blame. Otherwise, diagnoses of the disorder would be more evenly dispersed, they say.

Genes Implicated in Twins' Autism

Submitted by Anonymous on January 4, 2010 - 10:40
Source: 
The Baltimore Sun
Link: 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bal-md.hs.autism04jan04,0,7145703.story
Date Published: 
January 4, 2010
Abstract: 

Researchers have known for years that when one identical twin has autism, the other is also likely to be diagnosed with it - evidence that autism likely has a genetic component. Recent studies support that theory. Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute studied 277 pairs of twins and found that when one identical twin had the disorder, the other developed it 88 percent of the time; for fraternal twins, that figure was 31 percent.

Blood Mercury Concentrations in CHARGE Study Children With and Without Autism

Submitted by dawnacrawford on January 1, 2010 - 09:50
Source: 
Environmental Health Perspectives, Hertz-Picciotto, Green, Delwiche, Hansen, Walker, Pessah
Link: 
http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.0900736
Date Published: 
January 2010
Year Published: 
2010

The Childhood Autism Risk from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study enrolled children 2-5 years of age. After diagnostic evaluation, they analyzed three groups: AU/ASD, non-AU/ASD with developmental delay (DD), and population-based TD controls. Mothers were interviewed about household, medical, and dietary exposures. Blood Hg was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to predict blood Hg from diagnostic status controlling for Hg sources.  Fish consumption strongly predicted total Hg concentration. AU/ASD children ate less fish. After adjustment for fish and other Hg sources, blood Hg levels in AU/ASD children were similar to those of TD children ; this was also true among non-fish eaters. The direct effect of AU/ASD diagnosis on blood Hg not through the indirect pathway of altered fish consumption was a 12% reduction. DD children had lower blood Hg concentrations in all analyses. Dental amalgams in children with gum-chewing or teeth-grinding habits predicted higher levels. After accounting for dietary and other differences in Hg exposures, total Hg in blood was neither elevated nor reduced in CHARGE Study preschoolers with AU/ASD compared with unaffected controls, and resembled those of nationally representative samples.

A Powerful Identify: A Vanishing Diagnosis

Submitted by Anonymous on November 3, 2009 - 10:48
Source: 
New York Times
Link: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03asperger.html
Date Published: 
November 3, 2009
Abstract: 

Nobody has been able to show consistent differences between what clinicians diagnose as Asperger’s syndrome and what they diagnose as mild autistic disorder. Thus, there is a proposal to remove Asperger’s syndrome from the next edition of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual. But the change, if approved by the manual’s editors and consultants, is likely to be controversial. The Asperger’s diagnosis is used by health insurers, researchers, state agencies and schools — not to mention people with the disorder, many of whom proudly call themselves Aspies.

Mercury-Vaccine Link Disproven in Autism-Study

Submitted by Anonymous on October 19, 2009 - 10:50
Source: 
Reuters
Link: 
http://in.reuters.com/article/health/idINN0425071020080107
Date Published: 
October 19, 2009
Abstract: 

A new study provides more proof that childhood vaccines with mercury as a preservative -- no longer on the market -- did not cause autism. It found that the number of autism cases continued to rise through that period even though the preservative thimerosal -- nearly half of which is made of ethylmercury -- was removed from most vaccines in 2001.

CDC Finds Higher Incidence of Autism

Submitted by Anonymous on October 9, 2009 - 10:54
Source: 
Chicago Tribune
Link: 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-tc-nw-autism-tribuneoct05,0,5308671.story
Date Published: 
October 5, 2009
Abstract: 

About 1 in 100 8-year-old children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers who will be releasing details of their study later this year. The rate -- significantly higher than the government's 2007 estimate of 1 in 150.

California Dept of Health Publishes Study on Autism and Maternal/Paternal Age

Submitted by Anonymous on October 5, 2009 - 10:55
Source: 
American Journal of Epidemiology
Link: 
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR09-87-CDPHPUBLISHESSTUDYONAUTISMANDMATERNALANDPATERNALAGE.aspx
Date Published: 
October 5, 2009
Abstract: 

Reviewing a larger population than in any other study of its kind, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has found that as parents age their risk of giving birth to a child with autism increases modestly. Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the new CDPH study shows that for each 10-year increase in a mother’s age, the risk of autism increased by about 38 percent. For each 10-year increase in a father’s age, the risk of autism increased by about 22 percent.

For the First Time, A Census of Autistic Adults

Submitted by Anonymous on October 3, 2009 - 10:55
Source: 
Time Magazine
Link: 
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1927415,00.html?xid=rss-health
Date Published: 
October 3, 2009
Abstract: 

On Sept. 22, England's National Health Service (NHS) released the first study of autism in the general adult population. The findings confirm the intuitive assumption: that ASD is just as common in adults as it is in children. Researchers at the University of Leicester, working with the NHS Information Center found that roughly 1 in 100 adults are on the spectrum — the same rate found for children in England, Japan, Canada and, for that matter, New Jersey.