Child psychiatrist and epidemiologist Eric Fombonne digs through the latest report on the prevalence of autism, suggesting reasons for the apparent increase in the disorder’s rates.
A fraction of children with autism show significant improvements in social and communication skills over time compared with their peers with the disorder, according to a study published 2 April in Pediatrics.
Do rising rates of autism point to a true increase in prevalence or simply reflect a growing awareness and thus diagnosis of the disorder?
A new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, made headlines this week by suggesting that motherhood obesity may increase the risk of autism in children.
Both premature and post-term babies develop more severe symptoms of autism than those born close to their due dates, according to a study published 16 March in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
A new report from the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention finds that autism rates have risen 23 percent since 2009, from 1 in 110 children to 1 in 88.
Warning signs of autism, such as deficits in social ability and fine motor skills, are apparent as early as 6 months of age, according to a large longitudinal study published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
The odds of having a child with autism begin to rise at age 35 for both men and women, but that risk does not increase further when both parents are over 35, according to a large study published in the March issue of Annals of Epidemiology.
Scientists worry that funding cuts to the National Children’s Study, an ambitious effort to track 100,000 children in the United States from before birth through age 21, may harm recruitment efforts.
Immigrating to another country during pregnancy appears to boost the risk of having a child who has low-functioning autism, according to a comprehensive, population-based study in Sweden. The research was published online 23 February in the British Journal of Psychiatry.