July 5th, 2011 01:10 PM ET Researchers in California suggest
environmental factors may play a larger role in triggering
autism than was previously thought. Their study was published
Monday in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. The study
shows a "need to accept that we have to go down the route of
environment and genetics " when it comes to studying the causes
of autism, says lead author Dr. Joachim Hallmayer. "We have look
at both sides of coin." Scientists at Stanford University in
Palo Alto, California, using state records, identified 192 pairs
of twins in which at least one of the two had some form of
autism. Among these sets, there were 54 pairs of identical and
138 pairs of fraternal twins. The Stanford researchers then
examined the children for autism themselves, using standard
diagnosing tools. Approximately 1 in 110 children in the United
States have some form of developmental delay known as an autism
spectrum disorder (ASD), according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. ASDs b