Signs of Autism Differ Between Boys and Girls Because of a Difference in Brain

A new study by a team at Stanford University School of Medicine reveals that girls and boys diagnosed with autism behave differently.

The team discovers that girls with the condition display less repetitive and restricted behavior than boys.

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Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically characterized by impaired social and communication skills combined with repetitive movements.

The researchers say that a difference in their brains help explain the discrepancy between the sexes.

The findings represent the best evidence to date that boys and girls display the developmental disorder differently.

“We wanted to know which specific clinical manifestations of autism show significant gender differences, and whether patterns in the brain's gray matter could explain behavioral differences. Knowledge of the difference could help clinicians better recognize and treat autism in both sexes. Understanding this is really quite crucial clinically,” said Vinod Menon, the study's senior author.

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When CMA and WES tests were combined 16% of families were provided with some genetic clues as the reason for their children to develop autism.

Co-author, Dr Kaustubh Supekar, added: "We found strong evidence for gender differences in autism."

The researchers examined nearly 800 children with high-functioning forms of autism in the US.

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Repetitive and restricted behavior is the most widely recognized feature of autism. The other core features of autism are social and communications deficits.

Boys outnumber girls by four to one, among children diagnosed with the high-functioning form of autism.

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The scientists compared the expression of core features of the disorder between the sexes, because they have long suspected girls with autism may display symptoms differently.

Source-Medindia