Autism Spectrum Disorders News

Functional connectivity MRI accurately predicted which 6-month-old infants at high familial risk for autism spectrum disorder would be clinically diagnosed with the disorder at 2 years of age, according to findings recently published in Science Translational Medicine.

Women who have fever during pregnancy are more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to a study that recently appeared in Molecular Psychiatry.

When using novel biomarkers of early life exposure, researchers found differences in uptake of multiple toxic and essential elements over the second and third trimesters and early postnatal periods in monozygotic and dizygotic twins discordant for autism spectrum disorder, according to findings recently published in Nature Communications.

Although only one-third of teenagers with autism spectrum disorder acquire an intermediate driver’s license, 90% of those who did acquired their license within 2 years of becoming eligible for their learner’s permit; this time line indicates that teenagers with autism and their families may be making decisions about driving before obtaining a permit rather than during the learning process.

Low-income children with chronic conditions and their families could experience drastic cost increases for health care — as much as $233 to $2,472 in annual expenditures, depending on income levels and individual needs — if the Children’s Health Insurance Program is not renewed and the families are switched to Marketplace health insurance plans.

Tracking devices using radio, Bluetooth or GPS technology significantly reduce the frequency — and associated risks — of wandering behavior among children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disorders, as well as minimizing parental anxiety, according to survey results presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting.

Parent-mediated intervention within the first year of life may reduce the severity of autism prodromal symptoms and enhance parent-child dyadic social communication over the 3 years following the intervention, according to findings published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Use of antidepressants during pregnancy was significantly associated with preterm birth, but not with being small for gestational age, autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, according to research published in JAMA.

Recent findings indicated that children exposed to serotonergic antidepressants in utero did not have increased risk for autism compared with unexposed children.

A 2014 MMWR report indicated 1 in 68 children in the United States is affected by autism spectrum disorder.