Do Doctors Know What Causes Autism? | Autism Video Lecture | Understanding and Treating Autism - Health & Fitness

so what causes autism this is a huge
question on etiology and there's a lot
of research happening what we definitely
do know is there is a genetic
predisposition although there isn't one
particular gene that is responsible it
is a cascade or multiple different genes
that are involved with it single
nucleotide polymorphisms which means
little snips or little alterations in
the genes that are there and it can be
you know you see it run down families
and sometimes you can find what they
called an autism phenotype where other
family members can have issues like OCD
or social phobia and schizophrenia etc
but there also seems to be some
environmental or possible triggers that
have been looked at and we know of
medical conditions where we have a dual
diagnosis with autism like with fragile
X syndrome or with tuberous sclerosis
etc so there are definite medical
conditions but the actual cause of
autism is still being researched
there are many hypotheses and a lot of
abnormalities that are often seen in
children with the autism spectrum which
is raising concerns children tend to
have more GI con yes intestinal problems
immune issues are being researched as
well as mitochondrial dysfunction which
means at a cellular level there seem to
be some differences that you are finding
in kids with the autism spectrum
so is that causative is that associated
there is a lot of information out there
a lot of new research being done but we
don't have a single cause for it and I
know parents want to know that what
caused this to happen to my child and I
think this is driving the research
forward