Mother Talkers

A Genetic Component to Autism?

by Elisa

Thu May 08, 2008 at 05:37:54 AM PDT

Sorry for inundating you with so many health stories, but a bunch came out on Monday and I am just getting to them.

We have discussed at length about how autism could possibly be caused by vaccinations -- unlikely, according to the medical experts -- but now researchers are saying parents with mental illnesses like schizophrenia are more likely to have children with autism, according to Reuters.

The study of families in Sweden with children born between 1977 and 2003 involved 1,227 children diagnosed with autism. They were compared with families of nearly 31,000 children who did not have autism. Sweden's detailed health registry provides a wealth of data for such studies.

Autism, which is marked by impaired social interaction and communication, or a related disorder like Asperger's syndrome, affects an estimated one out of every 150 U.S. children, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Asperger's is marked by mild social awkwardness...

Which genes lie behind various mental illnesses are also poorly understood, according to the researchers, whose study appeared in the journal Pediatrics, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"Earlier studies have shown a higher rate of psychiatric disorders in families of autistic children than in the general population," Daniels said.

The association between a child's autism and mental illness in the parent was strongest with schizophrenia, and was less powerful when the mother suffered from depression or personality disorders. There was little association between autism and parental addiction to alcohol or drugs or some other types of mental illness.

It doesn't sound like we are much closer to understanding what causes autism as it continues to allude scientists.

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Tags: mental illness, autism, genetic, health story, Reuters (all tags)

Permalink | 13 comments

  • I think there's no doubt (0 / 0)

    at this point in time that there is a genetic component to autism, or at least to a significant percentage of autism cases.  There are studies looking at twins, studies looking at parents, studies looking at primary and secondary family members.  

    The next step, and it's a biggie, is trying to find out WHICH chromosomes and genes are implicated. The research is ongoing, and very technical, but the progress is slow.  Studies like this one facinate me because they might point to particular genes.

    by Sue in Queens on Thu May 08, 2008 at 07:32:11 AM PDT

    • There's a lot going on. (0 / 0)

      And there's also the issue of other things which can cause autism like symptoms (Fragile-X, for instance). My gut is that we're eventually going to conclude that genetics play a large part, prenatal testosterone exposure, and possibly other environmental factors.

      "You're never more alone than when you're alone in a crowd."

      by Expat Briton on Thu May 08, 2008 at 08:42:17 AM PDT

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      • prenatal testosterone (0 / 0)

        I think that we'll eventually learn that autism has multifactorial causes, and that not all autism is alike.  Just as many young children regress into autism, I have seen some who present as autistic and seem to mature out of it.  It's like they come into their own.

        Some have hypothesized that autism is an extreme form of the male brain.  I notice that many (most?) men don't make sustained eye contact when listening to others.  It's not out of the ordinary for men, but if women made as little eye contact and displayed as little affect as many men, they would be considered socially impaired.  There's a lot more to autism than eye contact, obviously, but there are some normal male relating patterns that do seem exaggerated in autistics.

        In addition to the genetic component, including the father's age, and some immune responses in pregnant women, I think eventually we'll find some connection to environmental neurotoxins.  There is so much crap in our textiles, furniture, etc., and some of them have been introduced recently enough that they may account for some of the increased incidence of autism.

        by mamacita on Thu May 08, 2008 at 11:30:12 AM PDT

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        • re: multi-factorial causes... amen to that! (0 / 0)

          I recently heard the term "autisms" for the first time, and I wonder if that might be more accurate than talking about a spectrum.  To what extent do complex and varying causes lead to substantial differences in the condition itself, that we just haven't properly teased apart yet?

          by AnnieJo on Fri May 09, 2008 at 10:15:59 AM PDT

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  • It's always beneficial to have (0 / 0)

    information related to health issues.  Thanks for posting this.  

    I'd like to give a shout out to a friend of mine whose 21 year old son is autistic.  Laura has spent the last 4 or 5 years chronicling life with Matthew in the context of her family's journey.   Her book is a wonderful, poignant read regarding the roller coaster that is family life especially with the additional complication of a child with autism.  She has worked so hard and diligently and has self-published her book titled A Regular Guy - Growing up with Autism.

    Anyone will enjoy Laura's writing regardless of family situation since many of the struggles we face are universal regardless of autism or other special needs.

    She has a website http://www.laurashumaker.com where anyone interested can find out more about her personal journey.

    karen

    by karen m on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:17:45 AM PDT

  • I'm sure there's a neurological component. (0 / 0)

    I'm correct in there being a lot of overlap with other neurological conditions, right?

    This isn't really any different than what we're learning about other diseases and genetics.  Heart disease is another example...a lot of studies point to there be a genetic relationship in families linking conditions ranging from coronary artery disease to migraine...provided, ofcourse, there are environmental and other types of triggering of onset.  

    by tjb22 on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:33:34 AM PDT

    • One of the interesting things about heart disease (0 / 0)

      is that there seems to be an infectious component - for example, it's linked to gingivitis and gum disease. They're thinking that arterial plaque may be as much about inflammation as dietary cholesterol.

      I think it's remarkable how much more we know about genetics than when I was in school - and even how far we've gone, it seems we're just one tiny step towards understanding much if anything. Horse color was my entree into the topic, and the more we learn the more questions we have. Now that we have ducks, I am just astounded by the complexity of the color patterns in their feathers - every feather itself carrying a complex pattern, and different from its neighbors - and yet, I have a pair of ducks with this complex pattern that are completely identical. I'm good at telling animals apart - two black labs, no problem! - but I cannot distinguish between these two ducks.

      I rather regret not going into biology after all. ;-)

      by shenanigans on Thu May 08, 2008 at 10:52:08 AM PDT

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      • I don't want to talk about how (0 / 0)

        many years its been since I've taken a formal course in biology or genetics....sometime since the discovery of penicillin is about as much as I'm willing to admit!  I always like genetics, too...but it fits in with my tendencies to reduce everything to gridwork!  

        http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/...

        Interesting work being done in heart disease.  Similar studies could be found linking neurological conditions to each other, too.  Our understanding is expanding day  by day.  We can't change our genes, but we most certainly can monitor factors such as inflammation markers if we have reason to believe we are genetically    predisposed to certain conditions.  

        by tjb22 on Thu May 08, 2008 at 01:39:17 PM PDT

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      • inflammation (0 / 0)

        Inflammation is where it's at, baby!  It's a long underappreciated aspect of immune function that in recent years has become the hot topic du jour.  It's possible that the way baby aspirin reduces heart attacks (at least in men) is by lowering the overall level of inflammation just a little bit, year after year.  

        by lyn on Thu May 08, 2008 at 03:03:09 PM PDT

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  • definitely genetic (0 / 0)

    The genetic component is well established, though we haven't identified it yet.  The problem with the above results is in the interpretation.  You can't say anything about cause, effect, or even biological linkage.  It's just a difficult to interpret clue.  Progress usually results from a chain of such clues, so each one is a real step forward.  

    This study might suggest the diseases are linked, but it might simply mean that normal variation in brain development makes a difference for "borderline" cases, and each variation will affect a different group of diseases.  For example, some people may be a little stronger or weaker in brain region "A".  If two people inherited the same predisposition toward autism, it might only be the weak "A"s who tip into clinical autism.  That same region of the brain might also alter the odds of developing schizophrenia in the presence of other factors.  Yet it doesn't really say that autism and schizophrenia share a cause.

    by lyn on Thu May 08, 2008 at 02:56:38 PM PDT

  • Interesting take on this over at... (0 / 0)

    Whose Planet Is It Anyway.  The blogger points out that the strongest association (schizophrenia), though statistically signficant, occurred in a mighty small number of either parents or children.  In fact, overall there was a lot less depression among the parents of kids with autism than one might expect.  And meanwhile, autism has historically been conflated with schizophrenia, so no wonder an association might turn up.  She says it better than I summarize of course.  Got to give some respect to anyone blogging under the name Autistic Bitch from Hell!!

    by AnnieJo on Fri May 09, 2008 at 10:10:02 AM PDT

  • I worry that studies like this (0 / 0)

    might make the road harder for parents of autistic children.  So many of them feel guilty / responsible for what seems like a difficult life road for their kid(s).  On top of that, to be suspected of having a mental illness (another stigma) pretty much sucks.

    by mamacita on Fri May 09, 2008 at 09:46:12 PM PDT

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