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Biochemical pathways of pregnant women were measured in a study to determine risk levels
New York: Researchers have developed a blood test for pregnant women that, with an accuracy of nearly 90%, can predict the likelihood of having a child in whom autism will be diagnosed.
According to studies, if a woman had an autistic child, the risk of having a second child with a developmental disorder reaches about 18.7%; for others, the risk is 1.7%.
In the study, led by Juergen Hahn, a professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, the metabolites of folate-dependent transmethylation and transsulfuration-dependent metabolites of pregnant women were measured to determine if she could predict the risk of To have an autistic child. metabolic profile.
Pregnant women who had an autistic child were separated into two groups based on their child's diagnosis.
Then, these mothers were compared to a group of mothers who had never had autism before.
The results, published in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, show that it is not possible to determine during pregnancy whether autism is diagnosed at age three, but that differences in plasma metabolites indicate that relative risk (18.7% vs. 1.7%) to have a child with autism.
"These are exciting results because they suggest differences in some metabolic processes that could play a role in increasing the risk of having an autistic child," Hahn said.
"However, it would be highly desirable that a prediction based on physiological measurements could be made to determine the risk group at which a potential mother falls," Hahn noted.
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