NEW HAVEN, Conn.
Heres a frightening statistic: One in every fifty school children in the US will be diagnosed with autism. Unfortunately, it can take doctors years to identify the disorder, delaying much needed treatment, but a new research may help doctors predict a childs risk of developing autism at birth!
Skiing alongside 12-year-old Jaya Dominici, you wouldnt know that shes severely autistic, unless, you try to talk to her. Maria suspected her daughter was autistic at 18-months, but she wasnt diagnosed until three. It was really like a baseball bat right to the head, because you know its going to be forever," Maria Dominici, Jaya's Mother, told Ivanhoe.
Early detection is critical, because the brain is completely unformed at birth. We can change behaviors very early, Doctor Harvey J. Kliman, MD, PhD, a Research Scientist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Yale University School of Medicine, told Ivanhoe.
A new study examining the placenta, the organ that provides nutrients to the baby from the mother, may help doctors diagnose autism shortly after birth. Researchers analyzed placentas from 217 births and found that in families at high genetic risk for having an autistic child, there were more of these abnormal folds and creases.
Researchers wont know how many children, whose placentas were studied, will have autism for at least another year, but for Maria, it would have helped me to get earlier intervention, Dominici said.
The study is a joint effort by researchers at Yale Universitys School Of Medicine and the University Of California at Davis. Doctor Kliman says the test will be available in the next few months. You may also be interested in learning that boys are four- to-five times more likely to have autism than girls.
Originally posted here:
Beyond The Fold: Autism Linked To Abnormal Placentas?