Early Signs of Autism Identified in Infants

Findings Could Lead to More Effective Treatment. Canadian researchers say they can recognize the early signs of  autism in children as young as 6 months old, and they hope their findings will lead to  better early treatments for the disorder.

In their ongoing study that now includes autism centers across 14 cities in Canada and the U.S., the researchers are following the progression of younger siblings of children with autism.

According to the National Alliance for Autism Research, a child born into a family in which an older child has been diagnosed with autism is 50 times more likely to develop the disorder than a child with no afflicted siblings.

In this study, researchers show that by age 1, siblings who are later diagnosed with autism may be distinguished from other siblings by early developmental behaviors.

“This is groundbreaking work that is pushing the frontier of what we know about the biological nature of autism, and why it emerges so early in life,” says researcher Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, MD, of Ontario’s McMaster University. “Our hope is that it will lead to the development of new and earlier treatments that could make a huge difference for these children.”
High-Risk Kids Followed From Birth

Autism is typically diagnosed in children around the age of 2 or 3 years, but parents often have concerns about developmental delays much earlier. There is strong evidence that autism has its origin in abnormal brain development early in prenatal life, write the authors.

In an effort to better understand the early signs of autism, Zwaigenbaum and colleagues have been observing more than 200 younger siblings of children with autism, many of whom have been followed from birth.

They developed a 16-point observational checklist called the Autism Observational Scale designed to map the development of infants as young as 6 months.

Specific markers include making infrequent eye contact, not smiling in response to smiles from others, and, in older children, exhibiting delayed language skills.

Even as early as 6 months of age, the researchers found that certain behaviors tended to distinguish siblings later diagnosed with autism from siblings who developed normally. These behaviors included passivity and a decreased activity level at 6 months of age, followed by extreme irritability, a tendency to fixate on objects, reduced social interaction, and lack of facial expression.

At 1 year, these same children also tended to have difficulty with language and communication, and they used fewer gestures. Zwaigenbaum noted that almost all of the children in the study who were diagnosed with autism by age 24 months had seven or more of these markers by the time they were a year old.

The findings are reported in the latest issue of the International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience. While the checklist may be useful for recognizing signs of autism in very high-risk children like the ones in the study, its relevance as an observational tool for other children is not yet known.

Autism Linked to Brain Inflammation

Carlos A. Pardo, MD, of Johns Hopkins University said in a press release that the findings reinforce the theory that inflammation in the brain is involved in autism, although it is not yet clear whether it is destructive or beneficial or both. Inflammation occurs when the immune system is activated, causing cells to rush into the area and produce swelling.

Despite all the marvels of modern medicine, the autistic brain is still highly uncharted territory. Doctors have struggled to determine the cause of autism since Leo Kanner, MD, first defined it in the 1940s, but the exact reasoning has remained elusive.

Autism is a complex neurological and development disorder that affects about 1 in 500 children. The disorder has become increasingly more common in recent years, although many researchers feel that improvements in diagnosis may account for this increase. It is estimated that as many as 1.5 million American children and adults have autism.

People with autism may repeat words or phrases continuously, have difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings, are resistant to change, and may display aggressive or even self-injurious behavior.

In the study, researchers analyzed frozen brain tissue from 11 deceased autism patients aged 5 to 44 and found that inflammation is clearly a feature of the disease in certain regions of the brain. Compared with normal brains, the autistic brains showed evidence of active inflammation in various regions, although it was most prominent in the cerebellum.

They also found ongoing inflammation in the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. And they found cytokines, or potent chemical messengers that are secreted by the immune system and lead to inflammation.

Scientists say their findings open up “new possibilities for understanding the dynamic changes that occur” in autistic brains. They speculate they could lead to new treatments and, potentially, specific diagnostic tests that look for inflammation in the spinal fluid of autistic patients. There is currently no blood or lab test to check for the disease.

Newer entries →