The children of obese fathers may be at a 53 percent higher risk of autism than children whose fathers are a healthy weight, reports a large Norwegian study published 7 April in Pediatrics.

About 1 in 68 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, scientists from the organization reported Thursday.

Children who show several repetitive behaviors — such as flapping their hands or spinning their toys — at their first birthday have nearly four times the risk of autism of children who don’t show repetitive behaviors. That’s the conclusion from a study published in the March issue of the Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology.

Most of the children who would lose their autism diagnosis under the diagnostic criteria released last year will fall under the new category of social (pragmatic) communication disorder, reports a large study of Korean children. The study was published last week in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Researchers must make heterogeneity in autism the object of their investigation, rather than treating it as an excuse for inconsistent results or an inconvenience in their quest to understand the disorder’s essence, argues Jon Brock.

About one in five children who appeared to have autism in 2006 and 2008 would lose that classification with the diagnostic criteria for autism released last year, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry.

The more traits of autism an individual has, the more sensory problems he or she reports, according to a study in the general population published 5 December in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

The American definition of autism travels well in the U.K. and Finland, but cultural differences in Finland affect how mild symptoms of the disorder are interpreted, according to a new study published 10 October in the journal Autism.

Children with autism who react intensely to sensations also have other severe symptoms of the disorder, including low intelligence and trouble adapting to change, suggests a study published 25 June in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Children who meet the criteria for both autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have more severe behavioral problems than do children with either disorder alone, according to three studies published in the past few months.