Insane Autism Parents

Sooo .. there may be a 'predisposal' factor to autism afterall.
Sorta like the Gulf War and Iraq veterans.
One might wonder whether polycythemia is relevant to autistic
parents .. too.
Polycythemia is recognized as associated to Gulf War illness.

Public release date: 5-May-2008

Contact: Patric Lane
patric_lane@unc.edu
919-962-8596
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Mental disorders in parents linked to autism in children
CHAPEL HILL =96 Parents of children with autism were roughly twice as
likely to have been hospitalized for a mental disorder, such as
schizophrenia, than parents of other children, according to an
analysis of Swedish birth and hospital records by a University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher and colleagues in the U.S.
and Europe.

The study, =93Parental psychiatric disorders associated with autism
spectrum disorders in the offspring,=94 appears in the May 5, 2008,
issue of the journal Pediatrics.

=93We are trying to determine whether autism is more common among
families with other psychiatric disorders. Establishing an association
between autism and other psychiatric disorders might enable future
investigators to better focus on genetic and environmental factors
that might be shared among these disorders,=94 said study author Julie
Daniels, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UNC School of Public
Health=92s epidemiology and maternal and child health departments.

=93Earlier studies have shown a higher rate of psychiatric disorders in
families of autistic children than in the general population,=94 she
said. =93We wanted to see if the parents of autistic children were more
likely to be diagnosed with mental disorders.

=93Our research shows that mothers and fathers diagnosed with
schizophrenia were about twice as likely to have a child diagnosed
with autism. We also saw higher rates of depression and personality
disorders among mothers, but not fathers,=94 Daniels said.

This information will help researchers look among related diseases,
such as psychiatric disorders, for causes of autism, Daniels said. =93It
may eventually help identify opportunities to prevent or treat the
disorder.=94

The study examined 1,237 children born between 1977 and 2003 who were
diagnosed with autism before age 10, and compared them with 30,925
control subjects matched for gender, year of birth and hospital. The
large sample size enabled researchers to distinguish between
psychiatric histories of mothers versus fathers in relation to autism.
The association was present regardless of the timing of the parent=92s
diagnosis relative to the child=92s diagnosis.


###
Coauthors of the study include Ulla Forssen, Ph.D., GlaxoSmithKline
epidemiologist, Collegeville, Pa.; Christina Hultman, Ph.D., Sven
Cnattingius, M.D., Ph.D. and Par Sparen, Ph.D., all of the department
of medical epidemiology and biostatistics at the Karolinska
Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; David Savitz, Ph.D., director of the
Center of Excellence in Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Disease
Prevention, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York; and Maria
Feychting, Ph.D., Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska
Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Note: Daniels can be reached at juliedaniels@unc.edu.

School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467,
ramona_dubose@unc.edu
News Services contact: Patric Lane, (919) 962-8596,
patric_lane@unc.edu



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