Low birthweight Infants at risk from Autism (5x)

Autism researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing have found a link between low birthweight and children diagnosed with autism, reporting premature infants are five times more likely to have autism than children born at normal weight.

The children, some born as small as about a pound, were followed for 21 years making this study, published in the prestigious journal Paediatrics, one of the most remarkable of its kind.

The infants were born between September 1984 through July 1987 in Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties in New Jersey at birthweights from 500 to 2000 grams or a maximum of about 4.4 pounds.

“As survival of the smallest and most immature babies improves, impaired survivors represent an increasing public health challenge,” wrote lead authorJennifer Pinto-Martin, MPH, PhD, director of the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology (CADDRE) at Penn Nursing.

“Emerging studies suggest that low birthweight may be a risk factor for autism spectrum disorders.”

Links between low birthweight and a range of motor and cognitive problems have been well established for some time, but this is the first study that establishes that these children are also at increased risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

“Cognitive problems in these children may mask underlying autism,” said Dr. Pinto-Martin. “If there is suspicion of autism or a positive screening test for ASD, parents should seek an evaluation for an ASD.

Early intervention improves long-term outcome and can help these children both at school and at home.”

In future studies, Penn researchers will investigate possible links between brain hemorrhage, a complication of premature birth, and autism by examining brain ultrasounds taken of these children as newborns.

The researchers, including a team at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, followed 862 children from birth to young adulthood finding that five percent (5%) of the children were diagnosed with autism, compared to one percent (1%) of the general population in what researchers called “the first study to have estimated the prevalence of ASD . . . using research validated diagnostic instruments.”

The $3 million study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.(NIMH)

Obesity Lower at High Altitude

People who are classified as Obese may find it easier to lose weight at high altitudes, the results of a German study suggest.

Previous studies demonstrated weight loss in athletes and normal-weight subjects at high altitude, but this study focused on the impact of altitude on overweight people for whom weight loss is desirable.

Researchers from Germany took 20 obese men to a high altitude location for one week. No changes were made to limit their food or alter their exercise routines, in an attempt to isolate the impact of altitude on weight.

After one week, the participants were eating less, had lost weight and had a lower diastolic blood pressure.

Writing in Obesity, the researchers said that low levels of oxygen found at high altitude may cause a rise in the hormone leptin which is thought to suppress appetite. However, they say more research is needed.

- Obesity Online 2010
- American Obesity Association

- AOA Online Journal
- The Journal of the American Obesity Association