Study Finds Asthma and Autism Connection

Researchers may have identified the first link between autism in children and asthmaand allergic disease in the mother. The researchers evaluated mothers in the 4years surrounding pregnancy and the later diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder inthe children. The study included 407 children who were diagnosed with autism and2095 without the condition.

Reporting in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (February 2005),the researchers revealed that asthma and allergies were significantly more prevalentamong mothers of children with autism, compared with unaffected children. Furthermore,the results of the study indicated that women who had asthma and allergiesduring the second trimester of pregnancy had a >2-fold higher chance of having achild affected by autism.