Autism is mostly explained by genetics, not environment
Embargoed until:
Publicly released:
2019-07-18 01:00
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) seems to be mostly caused by genetics, according to a study which used population data from five countries, including Australia, over 13 years. The researchers looked at over two million people, around 22,000 of which were diagnosed with ASD, to analyse potential ASD risk factors like genetics, environments and maternal effects. They found ASD seems to be about 80 per cent owing to genetic influences, while shared environmental factors only explained about 0.3 per cent of the ASD risk. This study shows ASD is strongly heritable and less due to environmental factors, according to an editorial which says the next step is to dive deeper into the complicated genetics of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Journal/conference: JAMA Psychiatry
Link to research (DOI): 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.1411
Organisation/s: The University of Western Australia, Telethon Kids Institute
Funder: This study was supported by grant HD073978 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation (Dr Sandin is a Seaver Faculty Fellow). Dr Leonard is a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellow. Data from Israel were ascertained through Israel Science Foundation grant 130/13.
Media Release
From: JAMA
Study Estimates Contribution of Genetic, NonGenetic Factors to ASD Risk
What The Study Did: National registry data from five countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Israel and Western Australia) were used to estimate the contribution of various genetic and nongenetic factors on the risk of autism spectrum disorder in this population-based study.
