Autism May Cluster Among Highly Educated

[trotsky]

California study finds a higher rate in neighborhoods with lots of college grads

TUESDAY, Jan. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Highly educated, older parents are more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism, a new study finds.

Using data on about 2.5 million births in California in a five-year period, researchers identified 10 autism clusters, or geographical areas in which there was a higher than usual incidence of children diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental disability that's marked by impaired social and communication skills, and repetitive behaviors.

The rate of autism in the clusters was about twice that of the surrounding areas.

...

"It confirms what we already knew, which is that highly educated parents are more likely to have children with autism," said the study's lead author, Karla Van Meter, an epidemiologist with the Sonoma County Department of Public Health who was a doctoral student in public health sciences at the University of California, Davis, when she conducted the research.

Source: Business Week

Wired magazine had a great article about this several years ago, relating the prevalence of autism among the children of the computer-savvy tech folks of Silicon Valley. More and more evidence pointing to a genetic cause.

[Cassandra]

1. More likely to have...

or more likely to realize and report it.

[elehhhhna]

15. thank you. no healthcare, no diagnosis.

[busymom]

17. Actually, many

kids in low income homes are eligible for headstart and are identified earlier than those who are not eligible.

[HuckleB]

19. Indeed.

[pnwmom]

2. But not genetics as a SINGLE cause. Genetics alone cannot account for

the marked rise in the last 19 years in California, as the recent epidemiological study showed. Neither can better diagnosis.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=autism-rise-driven-by-environment

"There's genetics and there's environment. And genetics don't change in such short periods of time," Hertz-Picciotto, a researcher at UC Davis' M.I.N.D. Institute, a leading autism research facility, said in an interview Thursday.

"Many researchers have theorized that a pregnant woman's exposure to chemical pollutants, particularly metals and pesticides, could be altering a developing baby's brain structure, triggering autism."

__________________________________________________

Anyone who has worked in the classroom during that period has witnessed what these researchers have confirmed. Something has been happening to increase the number of these children and we should be trying to understand what it is.

[izquierdista]

5. Except when they do

Change in a short period of time, that is. I think the good professor needs to go back and re-read the chapter on PUNCTUATED equilibrium. It's the kind of genetic change that you would have no clue of being right in the middle of.

[Orrex]

8. PUNCTUATED equilibrium isn't necessary a lightning-quick change

It's quick when viewed from an evolutionary or geologic timescale. Certainly it doesn't refer to a major genetic alteration occurring between conception and birth.

Additionally, it doesn't necessary imply that a single population underwent a massive change; a population could have a small, distinct subset existing within it for hundreds of generations until a catastrophe wipes out the larger population but leaves the subset untouched. All of a sudden the entire population is made up of the subset, and when seen from a great distance it will appear that the population remained intact but underwent a major change as a whole.

In short, there is little to suggest at this point that autism has anything to do with PUNCTUATED equilibrium.

[izquierdista]

12. I'm glad you're so sure.

[Orrex]

13. I'm so glad you're so glad.

[uppityperson]

22. I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad.

credit: Cream

[pnwmom]

14. By definition, that occurs over geological time, not over the span of 20 years. n/t

[mzteris]

7. And the mothers are OLDER . . .

I wonder if that is a factor.

[pnwmom]

9. That possibility is one of the ones mentioned in the article. n/t

[Chemisse]

24. I think that could be key

Highly educated women are far more likely to be older when they have their children.

And it makes sense that more defects in the DNA could be present in the ova of older women. We already know that Down Syndrome (trisomy 21) is far more likely in babies born of older women.

[Ian David]

3. Maybe it's caused by the graphite in those #2 pencils you need to take standardized tests. n/t

[pnwmom]

11. Or by some of the chemicals their engineer parents are exposed to at work. n/t

[pnwmom]

4. The article doesn't draw the same conclusion that you do.

According to the article, it is too early to know whether the clusters among well-educated people are caused by genetic or other factors (such as having the wherewithal to getting their children to a treatment center).

For example:

"some believe there could be some physical or chemical exposure in those households," Van Meter said. "It could be all of the above or some combination of factors. All are being studied."

The theory also doesn't explain why the numbers are continuing to rise, even in this century -- it's not as if autism is a new diagnosis anymore.

"The number of 8-year-olds with autism rose an average of 57 percent between 2002 and 2006, the CDC reported."

Wow.

On edit: couldn't this clustering also be related to parents with resources moving to cities that had facilities for their children? I knew parents that moved to Seattle because of a great treatment program for Downs Syndrome. If you didn't know better, you could wonder why there were so many children with Downs in the neighborhood.

[trotsky]

16. Why are you assigning me a strawman?

I said:

More and more evidence pointing to a genetic cause.

I did not "draw a conclusion."

Can you please rescind your strawman? Thanks.

[pnwmom]

18. Sorry, my mistake. I'm glad you're acknowledging that genetics is only

one of the factors involved in autism.

[trotsky]

20. Also a strawman.

I guess you can't argue any other way.

[whyverne]

6. I attend a lot of autism programs with my ASD son.

I've only seen one set of parents who would qualify for the "nerds breeding" theory.

All the rest are pretty average folks.

So I don't have much faith in that theory.

My kid's adopted so I can't blame my genes, but I do know that his mother was young and dumb as dirt.

[pnwmom]

10. That's true for the people I know, too. One of the boys is also adopted (from

another country so I don't know about the background of the parents).

And here's someone who agrees (from the article at the link):

Lee Grossman, president and chief executive of the Autism Society of America, described the study as interesting but said that, in his experience, autism cuts across demographic and socioeconomic lines.

"It seems to occur at the same rate no matter where you are and who you are," Grossman said. "We really aren't seeing well-educated parents having a greater tendency to have children with autism."

[HuckleB]

21. Link to the NPR story on this study.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122256276&ps=cprs

[HuckleB]

23. California’s Invisible Autism Epidemic Continues

http://leftbrainrightbrain.co.uk/2010/02/californias-invisible-autism-epidemic-continues/

A mildly interesting addition to the discussion, IMO.

[Warpy]

25. Since another study that came out in the last couple of weeks

revealed the incidence of autistic births climbs with both maternal and paternal age, this seems like a case of carts and horses being confused.

Highly educated people have put off starting their families in order to complete that education. That's probably got more to do with it than their IQs.

However, this is only one study. More are needed to determine all the risk factors.