A new study published in the JAMA Psychiatry journal is illuminating a possible correlation between one's sex and their possibility of inheriting autism from a parent. Researchers in Sweden examined more than one million children born between 1985 and 1998 and found that males had a higher rate of heritability for autism spectrum disorder than females do.
"To our knowledge, this cohort study is the first large family- and population-based study estimating the sex-specific associations of genetic and non-inherited factors with ASD liability," the researchers wrote of their methods. "Compared with previous studies, we used newly developed statistical estimation techniques, which allow for a detailed inclusion of fixed parameters and provide better adjustments for differences in prevalence by sex and birth year."
The scientists found that 1.17 percent of the 1,047,649 Swedish children sampled were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder; this included 1.51 percent of males and 0.80 percent of females. In the end, they concluded that heritability of ASD was about 87.0 percent of males and 75.7 percent of females, making for a difference of approximately 11.3 percent.
"Based on population-based data from Sweden, this cohort study found that genetic variability in ASD liability differs between males and females, indicating that some of the underlying causes of the condition may differ between the 2 sexes," they concluded.
Still, more studies and research need to be done to find possible explanations for this difference, as the Swedish team acknowledged their study was limited to one country.
"The skewed sex ratio in ASD may, partly, be explained by differences in genetic variance between sexes," they surmised. "This discovery opens up new avenues for further research aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the prevalence of ASD."
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