Study Says Autism More Common in IT-Rich Regions

A new study from Cambridge University has found that there will be a higher rate of autism among their children whose parents gravitate towards jobs that involve strong 'systemizing', such as the IT sector.

The study has important implications for service provision in different regions and for the 'hyper-systemizing' theory of autism.

Autism Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prognosis
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder typically characterized by impaired social and communication skills combined with repetitive movements.

The researchers predicted that autism spectrum conditions (ASC) would be more common in populations enriched for 'systemizing', which is the drive to analyse how systems work, and to predict, control and build systems.

The researchers tested for differences in the prevalence of ASC in school-aged children in three geographical regions in the Netherlands: Eindhoven, Haarlem, and Utrecht-city. The region Eindhoven was selected because it is rich in information-technology (IT).

They found school-reported prevalence estimates of ASC in Eindhoven were 229 per 10,000, significantly higher than in Haarlem (84 per 10,000) and Utrecht (57 per 10,000), whilst the prevalence for the control conditions was similar in all regions.

Rett Syndrome – Causes – Symptoms – Signs – Diagnosis - Treatment
Rett Syndrome is a neurological disorder that affects development. It mostly affects the girl child.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Source-ANI

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