Headline : The Link Between a Mother’s Lupus and a Child’s Autism

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At the turn of the 21st century, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children was roughly 1 in 150. That’s according to data collected by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A decade later, in 2010, the prevalence had risen to 1 in 68 children. By 2020, it had climbed again—to 1 in 36 children. “The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has increased dramatically in recent decades, supporting the claim of an autism epidemic,” wrote the authors of a 2020 study in the journal Brain Sciences.

The precise cause and extent of that epidemic are contested. Some researchers have observed that the diagnostic criteria for ASD have evolved during that time—stretching and broadening to include a wider array of conditions. And so part of the rise in diagnoses, they argue, is likely attributable to dilating conceptions and a deeper understanding of autism. Still, the increasing prevalence of ASD diagnoses has spurred greater scientific interest in the underlying causes of the disorder. That work has revealed a possible connection between ASD and autoimmune conditions, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

“For quite a while, there’s been a link between maternal autoimmune diseases and risk for having a child with autism,” says Paul Ashwood, a professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of California, Davis and the MIND Institute, which focuses on autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. He mentions work based on nationwide data collected over a period of many years from mothers and their offspring in Denmark. That research found that prenatal exposure to a number of different maternal autoimmune diseases, including both lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, was associated with an increased risk for an eventual autism diagnosis.

Since then, more research has firmed up the apparent association, and also found evidence of a broader connection between a pregnant woman’s immune system and the risk of an offspring with autism. “What we’ve been looking at a lot more recently is how anything that generates a maternal immune response could be linked to autism risk,” Ashwood says.

Read more from the original article on here at time.com.

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