From Reuters:

A study of autism in the current Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine reports a higher correlation between identical twins than among fraternal twins, affirming the importance of genes in the development of the disorder.

The study surveyed 277 pairs of twins in which at least one had autism. Among the pairs in which the twins were identical, the study found that both had the disorder in 88 percent of cases. That compared with a rate of 31 percent among fraternal twins.

The new study affirms what researchers had already observed in earlier, smaller studies: “that autism has a large genetic component,” said Dr. Paul Law of the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.

While experts generally agree that genetics plays a major role in autism spectrum disorders, they also believe that environmental factors conspire with genes to make certain children vulnerable. Researchers are still trying to figure out what those environmental factors are.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 4:16 pm and is filed under autism, research news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.