Minority children with autism more likely to have a developmental regression - One third regress!

A study shows that one third of minority children with autism have a developmental regression! But why? JR

Minority children with autism are more likely to have lost critical developmental skills, such as walking or talking, than are white children, according to a new study.

The phenomenon, called developmental regression, occurs when children have reached milestones such as saying words and walking, and then those skills suddenly vanish. The new research found that the odds of developmental regression were twice as high for black children and 1.5 times higher for Hispanic children than they were for white youngsters.

It's estimated that one-third of children with autism go through developmental regression, said lead researcher Dr. Adiaha Spinks-Franklin, of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

"They learn to babble or talk, then stop. They learn to play patty-cake, then stop," said Spinks-Franklin.

This appears to be the first study to show racial disparities in rates of developmental regression. And for now, the cause is unclear, Spinks-Franklin said.

No one knows why regression happens at all, said Dr. Dan Coury, medical director for the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network.

"But it does make us wonder if it might be a different type of autism, with different causes," Coury said.

Autism is a developmental disorder that -- to widely varying degrees -- impairs a child's ability to communicate and interact socially. Some kids have relatively mild problems relating to other people; others speak very little or not at all, and focus obsessively on only a couple of interests and engage in repetitive behaviors.

Researchers have managed to find a few hundred genes related to autism risk, and experts believe the disorder arises from a complex mix of genes and environmental exposures -- though it's not yet clear what those exposures are.

Coury said future studies could look into whether genes play a role in minority children's higher rate of regression. Another question, he said, is whether their parents might have had different environmental exposures before and during pregnancy.

Researching those possibilities, Coury noted, could also give clues to the causes of autism in general.

The current findings are based on 1,353 preschool children included in the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network (ATN) database. The children were from 17 different areas across the United States and Canada.

Based on parents' reports, 27 percent of the children had reached certain early milestones, such as saying words or making eye contact, then lost those skills.

Black and Hispanic parents were more likely to report lost skills, even when the researchers took into account for parents' education levels, whether they had insurance, and whether their child had already been diagnosed with autism before coming to the ATN.

It's already known there are other racial disparities in autism, Spinks-Franklin pointed out. Black and Hispanic children are typically diagnosed later than white children are -- whether they have developmental regression or not, Coury noted.

One reason, he said, is that minority families may have less access to health care.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children should be screened for developmental delays during routine "well-child" visits -- at the ages of 9 months, 18 months, and 24 or 30 months.

Autism can be difficult to diagnose, the CDC says, but can sometimes be detected by the age of 18 months. By age 2, a diagnosis from an experienced professional can be considered "very reliable," the agency says. Yet many children don't receive a definite diagnosis until school age.

That's something experts want to change. "The earlier we intervene, the better the outcomes," Coury said. "And that's pretty universal, whether children have regression or not."

Early intervention therapies start by age 3, and focus on building kids' language, movement and social skills.

Spinks-Franklin agreed that timely diagnosis is critical. "It's important for parents to be aware of the signs of autism," she said.

If you're worried about possible delays in your child's development, talk to your doctor, Spinks-Franklin advised. And if your child seems to have lost a skill, she added, that's a "red flag."

"In that case, don't hesitate to talk to your doctor," Spinks-Franklin said.

The findings from this study were presented on Tuesday at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Vancouver. Findings presented at meetings should be considered preliminary until they've been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

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Autism regression is more common in Hispanic and Black children, study claims

A study claims that autism regresses more commonly in Hispanic and Black children than children of other races.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a set of developmental disorders characterized by varying levels of social and communication problems. In a new study, researchers examined autistic children's likelihood of developmental regression, which occurs when children start to lose certain skills, such as talking, making eye contact and walking on schedule. The researchers found that black and Hispanic children appear to have a greater risk of regression than white children.

"Lost skills are very difficult to recover," said lead author Adiaha I. A. Spinks-Franklin, MD, MPH, FAAP, assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and associate director of the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatric Fellowship at Texas Children's Hospital. "Evidence suggests that African-American and Hispanic children are often diagnosed with autism at later ages than white children and have less access to services. Our research shows there is one more important factor that contributes to the developmental outcomes of African-American and Hispanic children with autism."

For this study, the researchers examined data on 1,353 autistic children who were a part of the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network database from March 2008 to December 2011. The data on the preschool children's demographics and medical information were collected at one of 17 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.

The researchers found that 27 percent of the children went through developmental regression, which was reported by their parents. Based on these reports, the researchers calculated that black children were two times more likely to regress than white children. Hispanic children were 1.5 times more likely to regress than white children. The researchers found that these links exist even after accounting for the education levels of the children's primary caretaker and the children's insurance status

"We want parents to know that if they have any concerns about behavior or development patterns in their children - whether the concern is a loss of skills or some other type of concern - their child should be evaluated by a physician as soon as possible," said study co-author Jennifer B. Swanson, MD, FAAP, first-year developmental-behavioral pediatric fellow at Baylor College of Medicine, reported in the press release.

The study, "Racial Differences in Developmental Regression in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders," was presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) yearly meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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