Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm (Sweden) carried out an epidemiological study on the causes ofautism. According to the conclusions of their work published in the medical journal Molecular Psychiatry, there is a link between Stein-Leventhal syndrome and autistic disorders. Indeed, women who produce an excess of male hormones would be more likely to give birth to a child with autism disorders.
The scientists analyzed the medical data by studying the medical records of all children aged 4 to 17 born in Sweden between 1984 and 2007. The researchers established a statistical link between Stein-Leventhal syndrome (women with this pathology (or polycystic ovaries, PCOS), between 5 and 15% of women of childbearing age, secrete an abnormally large amount of androgen hormones, including during pregnancy. pregnancy) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
“We found that a diagnosis of PCOS in the mother increased the risk of ASD in the child by 59%,” said psychiatrist Kyriaki Kosidou from the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Karolinska Institute. “The risk was even greater in mothers with both PCOS and obesity, a common condition with greater excess androgen production,” she added.
Further studies should validate these conclusions.
“It is too early to make specific recommendations to clinicians in terms of the care of pregnant women with PCOS, although raising awareness of the link (supposed between PCOS and ASD) could allow for earlier detection of ASD” in children at risk , according to Renee Gardner, co-author of the study.
Autism in France
The National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) estimates that 100,000 young people under the age of 20 suffer from pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) in France and that infantile autism affects approximately 30,000 of them. between them.
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