Scientists have finally found the cause of autism

Autism (or autism spectrum disorder - ASD) is a disease that costs a lot of paper and scientists' effort, simply because the incidence is relatively high in today's society. According to the CDC (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), 1 out of 68 children has autism. In particular, the number of boys with autism is 4 - 5 times higher than girls.

What is the cause of autism? There have been many theories and ways to prove, from factors such as psychology, how to raise . to the effects of air pollution, viruses, misuse of drugs, but most are not real. the basis.

However, in the latest study, which is considered the largest ever in this disease, scientists believe that they have actually found the cause. The study was conducted on more than 2 million children from 5 countries, thereby determining that the biggest reason for causing autism is genetic .

In the report published in the scientific journal JAMA Psychiatry, it was shown that autism spectrum disorder has 81% dependence on genetic genes, while external effects account for only about 20% of the risk. In addition, the study also determined that factors from the mother - such as weight, hormonal disorders, childbirth . - seemed unrelated, or had little effect on the formation. of ASD.

To achieve this result, experts extracted medical data of 2 million children born in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Israel and Western Australia between 1998 - 2011. The team followed closely. Subjects studied until age 16, of which about 22,000 cases were diagnosed with ASD.

In fact, ASD is a complex disease, not easy to study. ASD usually does not occur only by a specific cause, but by many other factors combined together. This also means that environmental factors are likely to have a major impact. Particularly in this study, genetic factors are considered to bring higher proportions, although scientists have not been able to find the gene that is really responsible for this story.

"Many families are concerned about factors from the outside environment that have caused autism, but genetics actually plays a bigger role," - Dr. Andrew Adesman, director of the Medical Center Children in Cohen, who were not involved in the study, were also sympathetic.

"But external factors are also important, though much smaller. This means we cannot ignore environmental factors and only care about genetics."

This is not the first time that science has shown an association between autism and genetic genes. In a 2016 study, twins also concluded that genetic genes are responsible for 64% - 91% of the ability to cause autism , but there is not much evidence.

1. Autism originates from brain changes in the fetus?
2. Discovering foods that can treat autism