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As
we roll into the second week of April, when the birds are chirping and the sun
is shining, it’s important to also recognize that it’s the second week of the
National Autism Awareness Month. Autism is most commonly known as a complex
developmental disability that affects a person’s ability to communicate and
interact with others due to various disorders of early brain development. There
is no one specific cause for autism, but a recent study from the Harvard School
of Public Health has discovered that women who grew up experiencing abuse were
at the highest risk- 3 ½ times more than women not abused- of having a child
born with autism.
This
article brings to light the impacts and harms childhood abuse has on not only
the person who experiences it, but also on future generations that are put at
an increased risk for brain disorders like autism. Not only does this study
help identify a new risk factor for autism, but it also helps to identify future preventable risk factors. Results of this study concluded that no matter what
level of abuse a woman may have been exposed to, the risk of having a child
with autism increased based on any level, ranging from moderate to severe, compared to women that were not exposed to any level of abuse during
childhood. Although further research is required in order to weed out the
mechanisms involved in maternal childhood abuse-autism, authors of the study
believe that women’s biological systems experience long-lasting effects from
all types of abuse, which plays a crucial role in a future mother’s
childbearing abilities and the type of stress that can be put on the fetus.
Even though there may be no cure
for autism, through various studies, such as this one, there can be increased
efforts to prevent childhood abuse, which can furthermore lower the rate of
babies being born with autism. Recently I was given the opportunity to
volunteer for the Autism Speaks 5k run/3k walk where I realized that autism is
becoming a very prevalent disorder among our future generations, and with the
sad truth of there being no cure, studies such as this one shine light into
some hope for preventing more children being born with this disorder and maybe even
eventually finding a cure. Not only does this type of research have the opportunity to decrease rates of childhood abuse, but it also opens the door into an array
of discoveries on the mechanisms and biology that drives autism.
Gabrielle Wertheim (3)
Link to Photo: http://www.amchp.org/programsandtopics/CYSHCN/projects/spharc/resources/Pages/AutismAwarenessMonth.aspx
I think this really brings to light the impact that the mother's state of mind cam have on the fetus. High anxiety women appear to be more likely to have babies with colic. Could anxiety during pregnancy also cause a lasting condition such as autism.
ReplyDeleteposted by Ashley Sterpka (1)
I was actually at the Autism Speaks 5k! I think it is a great way to raise awareness and health. I never really thought to deep into the fact that the mother's mental state had any impact really on the fetus. Definitely stopping by the Autism Speaks table next time I see it.
ReplyDeletePosted by Cynthia Bui (1)
I agree! I really thought it was a great way to raise awareness!
DeleteThis is pretty compelling information. Even if the link isn't as direct as abuse=autism, the idea that kind of stimulus like abuse can have a potential effect on a yet to be conceived child is an interesting idea. I wonder what other kinds of life events can have an effect on an unborn child.
ReplyDeleteHunter Alexander (3)
This brings light to a disorder that I didn't know too much about. You spoke about how there are efforts to take that can prevent child abuse. What are these efforts and how can they be proved effective? I think it is sad that there is a vicious cycle of abused children becoming abusers and I wonder what kind of psychological process causes this.
ReplyDeleteLindsey Dugas (1)
do you know how this study was performed I think it would be interesting to compare mothers whom were all abused and what percentage of them actually have children that have autism.
ReplyDeleteTonya Sulham
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1666655 this is the link to the full report of the study performed
DeleteThis is a very interesting and unexpected correlation. More work should be done to confirm the basis of this correlation. In other words, does abuse lead directly to increased autism risk, or are there other correlated variables involved. This finding is particularly intriguing to me, since as you said autism is on the rise in current generations, and yet seems to be correlated with childhood abuse of mothers. I would predict that abuse of mothers as young girls would be more severe in previous generations, suggesting that other factors are probably contributing to the increase in autism prevalence.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sean McDougall (2)
When I read this, the first thing that i thought of was the role hormones play in this matter. The only difference I could think about when comparing an abused to a non abused female child would be a disruption in normal hormonal activity. If this is the case, its possible that autism is not a genetic disorder and instead an epigenetic disorder that is cause for offspring being born with autism. I would be interested to keep updated on new research findings to see if this could in fact contribute, and if so, what mechanism is working.
ReplyDeletePosted by Marshall Moini (2)
It is very difficult for people in the science and medical fields to blame a certain disease on environmental conditions without an enormous amount of research and evidence to back it up. Are there other studies like this one that proves a similar theory about early childhood abuse and future offspring with Autism?
ReplyDeletePosted by Celina Keating (2)
I am not sure if there have been any other studies like this one, but this study isn't definitively stating that this environmental condition is the leading factor to Autism, its just stating that it could be one among others.
DeleteDo you think that the mental stress of abuse causes some sort of lapse in brain chemistry? Enough to affect the fetus' brain for the child to get autism? Disrupting the brain chemistry can have an adverse effect even when it comes to bearing children.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting study, I've never heard of such a concept, but I see where they're going with this!