Autism might begin in womb, researchers find, as numbers rise

Brain developments leading to autism possibly begin before birth, a new study has found.

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In a small study, researchers found abnormal brain cell patterns in autistic children when compared with children who were not autistic. Specifically, genetic markers for cell layers in the cortex, which are formed during pregnancy, were compared across the two groups post-mortem.

“Given that the pattern of cell layers in the cortex is laid down prenatally, these findings, if replicated, suggest that brain changes in autism are likely to have originated before birth, although the disorder is usually diagnosed behaviorally after age 4 years,” the director of National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Thomas Insel, said, referring to the study in a blog post on autism.

Autism is characterized by difficulty in social communication and interaction.

Separately, new data released by the CDC shows that autism rates rose 30% from 2008 to 2010. It is estimated that 1 in 68 children now suffer from autism, up from 1 in 88 in 2008 and even lower earlier, although the recent high rates may partly be due to increasingly accurate diagnoses compared to prior time periods.

“How much of this increase is ‘more detected’ versus ‘more affected’? Is this increase a mark of better care, with more cases identified and treated, or is this a reflection of a continually growing public health care emergency due to more children affected?,” said Insel. He added that while these questions cannot be answered now, the CDC is planning a population-wide study to understand the numbers better.

Further, the CDC found that boys are five times more likely to be autistic than girls.

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“In 2014, the mystery of autism remains largely unsolved. We describe autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder, but even with the new report (of changes in genetic markers) mentioned above, we do not know precisely how to define what the brain disorder is or when it occurs,” Insel said.

More research is needed to see exactly how cells of the cortex are affected in pregnancy, and whether genetic, environmental or a combination of both factors is to blame for this change. Only then can guidelines be formulated for preventive care during pregnancy.