Autism Is Not a Single Condition and Has No Single Cause, Scientists Conclude
New research from The University of Cambridge suggests that autism should not be understood as a homogeneous condition with a single cause. Scientists have found that people diagnosed in early childhood often have a different genetic profile from those diagnosed later in life, expanding understanding of how the condition is developing.
The study analyzed the behavior of autistic people during childhood and adolescence in the United Kingdom and Australia. He also assessed genetic data of more than 45,000 patients with a disease of various cohorts in Europe and the United States.
By connecting genetic information at age to diagnosis, the researchers observed that the profiles of those identified early with the disease differ from those who were confirmed at subsequent stages. They found only a slight overlap between the two groups, indicating that the biological mechanisms associated with autism in childhood can be different from those linked to autism identified in adolescence or adulthood.
Analysis, published last week in the journal NatureShowed that children diagnosed before the age of six were more likely to have behavioral difficulties – such as social interaction problems – from early age. On the other hand, people diagnosed after the age of 10 were more likely to feel social and behavioral difficulties in adolescence. They also had a greater predisposition to mental health problems, such as depression.
The study adds that the average genetic profile of people diagnosed later was closer to that of ADHD and conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder than that of “classic” autism identified in early childhood.
The study concludes that the time of diagnosis is not entirely random, but reflects underlying genetic differences which, in some cases, coincide with the risk of other conditions.
“For the first time, we found that autism diagnosed earlier has biological and underlying development profiles,” said Varun Warrier, a researcher of the Psychiatry Department of Cambridge University and the main author of the newspaper, in a press release. “The term” autism “probably describes several conditions.”
