Autism Spectrum Disorders News

Analysis of a large general population-based sample of Swedish twins revealed that genetic risk factors for psychiatric disorders — including autism, ADHD, tic disorders, intellectual disability, anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder — were associated with milder traits of these disorders.

Home videos 2 minutes long were used to diagnose autism spectrum disorder in children, according to findings recently published in PLoS Medicine.

Siblings born to a family after children with autism spectrum disorder or ADHD were more likely to be diagnosed with the same disorder as well as the other disorder, study findings reported.

Severe infections requiring hospitalization were linked to subsequent increased risk for hospitalization for any mental disorder and psychotropic medication use in Denmark, according to a nationwide cohort study published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Approximately 3% of American children have received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in their lifetime, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics. Researchers noted that although effective behavioral and medication-based treatments are available for children with the condition, almost 30% of children with current diagnoses are not being treated.

Study findings published in Translational Psychiatry revealed that 8 to 12 weeks of individual music intervention improved social communication and functional brain connectivity in children with autism.

Prenatal exposure to certain medications known to affect neurotransmitter systems may not affect the estimates of autism spectrum disorder risk in offspring, according to findings published in JAMA Psychiatry.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Strategies shown to decrease intestinal and blood-brain barrier permeability — like probiotics, prebiotics and supplements such as fish oil — may help subgroups of patients with depression and other psychiatric disorders, according to a presenter here.

Children with autism spectrum disorder had the highest occurrence of rapid weight gain during the first 6 months of life, putting these children at greater risk for obesity, according to findings recently published in Autism.

In a large genetic sequencing study, researchers identified 102 genes associated with autism spectrum disorder, according to findings presented at the American Society of Human Genetics 2018 annual meeting.