Jul 10, 2008 6:00 pm US/Eastern
Health: Groundbreaking Autism Study
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Rates of autism continue to rise. Now local doctors are trying to figure out why with a groundbreaking study.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is one of six centers across the United States participating in a CDC study to find out what is causing one in every 150 children to be diagnosed with autism.
Like all four year olds, Dalton Brown likes to play with puzzles and toys. He seemed like a healthy baby and toddler. Then all of a sudden his behaviors abruptly changed.
Dalton became withdrawn and didn't make a lot of eye contact.
"You would look in to his eyes and you just realized that you were losing this child that was developing typically and then all of a sudden something happened," said Tina Brown, Dalton's mother.
Two years ago, he was diagnosed with autism.
"This is affecting too many families and we have to get answers," said Tina.
So to find out, the Brown family is participating in a first of its kind study at CHOP to determine possible causes of autism.
"This study is incredibly important. There's no way to decrease the number of children who acquire the disorder unless we understand what the risk factors are," said Jennifer Pinto-Martin, a Penn Nursing Epidemiologist leading the study.
She will help analyze the data collected of both healthy and autistic children. Dalton is one of nearly 3,000 kids who will undergo a physical and psychological evaluation. And parents will undergo genetic testing, extensive interviews and questionnaires.
"The mother's past medical history, the father's past medical history, the mother's reproductive history, the pregnancy history, the history of the child from the time they were born," said Pinto-Martin.
Results of the study aren't expected for a few years. Children between the ages of two and five years old are eligible to participate, and they have to be born and still living in Chester, Montgomery or Philadelphia counties.
For more information on the SEED Autism Study call
215-573-6881.
RELATED LINK:
SEED Study Information
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments