Autism Science Foundation Weekly Science Report

Autism Science Foundation Weekly Science Report


Environmental factors: the forgotten stepchild of autism spectrum disorders

January 12, 2020

When people hear the word “heritability” in mathematical estimates, they automatically think “just genetics”.  That isn’t true, and this week epidemiologist Brian Lee from Drexel talks us through his SpectrumNews viewpoint about what heritability actually is and why there is room for environment.  Also this week, twin studies, which have traditionally used the word heritability to distinguish genetic vs. environmental interactions, are studied in a new light.  This one shows that severity and differences of autism across the spectrum in identical twins are caused by environmental differences – not just genetics.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31853901