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BY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
A new study shows that parents who have a child with autism have a greater chance than expected of having a second autistic child.
Researchers followed 664 infants of about eight months with at least one older brother or sister having autism. Results showed 132 of the infants, about 19 percent, were also diagnosed with autism by their third birthdays. According to the New York Times, past studies involving much smaller groups had determined that one in 10 younger siblings of children with autism would develop autism.
About one in 110 American children born today will be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, meaning there is almost 20 times a greater risk of the younger sibling of an autistic child to develop autism. The study found that the risk increases in families with two or more autistic children, at 32 percent.
Lead author in the study, Sally Ozonoff, a psychiatry and behavioral-sciences professor at the University of California, said early diagnosis of autism is important because behavioral treatment has the best chance of working if it is started early.
"Pediatricians need to listen and make a very focused plan for how to monitor those things, rather than taking a wait-and-see attitude" toward children with autistic siblings, Ozonoff said to philly.com.
Secaucus New Jersey News reports that researchers now plan to examine the possible role of pollution, infections and various environmental factors in contributing to autism.
According to ezinearticles.com, New Jersey has the highest amount of autism cases nationally. The Center for Disease Control says one in every 150 kids may be autistic nationwide, while there are one in 94 in New Jersey. There are about 87,000 people estimated to have some form of autism in New Jersey.
