Low birth weight may increase a person's chances of developing autism, according to a study in the November Pediatrics. More than 600 children who were born in the mid-1980s weighing 4.4 pounds or less were followed until age 21. The researchers found that 5 percent of them had autism spectrum disorder diagnoses, a rate five times that found in the general American population. Also, the lower the birth weight, the higher the likelihood of an autism diagnosis.
The latest knowledge about the causes of and treatments for autism can be found in a new book, Textbook of Autism Spectrum Disorders, published by American Psychiatric Publishing. See www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62341.(Image: Jaimie Duplass/Shutterstock.com)
