[Source: PhysOrg.com]
A new study, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, found mild traits, not strong enough to provoke a diagnosis of autism, seem to be present in the siblings of affected children at significantly higher rates than seen in the general population. The findings appear online and will be published in the November issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry.
“Mild symptoms, called quantitative traits, may be confounding studies that compare children with autism to their siblings,” says first author John N. Constantino, MD. “Researchers presume one child is affected, and the other is not, but our findings suggest that although one child may have autism while the other does not, it’s very possible both children are affected to some degree by genes that contribute to autism.”
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