Asthma or allergies in an expectant mother may increase the likelihood that her child will exhibit symptoms of autism, according to a Kaiser Permanente study featured in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine's February issue. The study also looked at the assumed association between autoimmune diseases such as lupus, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Addison's disease and autism in the children of mothers with those conditions. "With the exception of psoriasis, we did not find an association between autoimmune diseases in mothers and autism," says study author Lisa A. Croen, PhD, of Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, CA. "What we did find was a two-fold increase in autism among children of asthmatic mothers or women with allergies, particularly if their symptoms were medically diagnosed in the second trimester of pregnancy." This association between a mother's asthma and allergies and a child's autism has not been reported in the medical literature previously, says Dr. Croen, and requires replication in further studies. To read the full Kaiser press release, visit http://www.dor.kaiser.org/dors/news/Feb_2005_Croen_Autism_and_asthma.shtml.
To read the abstract of the journal article, visit http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/159/2/151?maxtoshow=&H
ITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=autism+asthma&searchid=11086929305
23_1600&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=archpedi. |
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