Having educated parents does not cause autism. However, more cases of autism are diagnosed in areas where parents are older, better educated, and white.

More cases of autism are also diagnosed in communities near regional service centers for people with autism, according to a new study from University of California at Davis.

• UCD researchers set out to find environmental factors that may cause autism clusters in certain geographic areas.
  
• They were unable to find links to pollution or chemical exposure, and they suggest that areas with high rates of autism are probably just places where parents are more likely to obtain a diagnosis for a child.
  
• Differences in parents' age, education, and ethnicity could explain autism clusters most of the time.

"These clusters correlated with neighborhoods of higher education or neighborhoods that were near a major treatment center for autism," said senior author Irva Hertz-Picciotto.

The study appeared in the journal Autism Research.

Labels: autism

Posted By: Aspen/CRC