Researchers studying autism prevalence should take into account the continuous nature of autism symptoms in the general population, says John Constantino.

Young children with autism have higher rates of obesity than the general population, says a study published 13 March in Childhood Obesity.

Folic acid supplements taken early in pregnancy reduce the risk of autism, according to a large Norwegian study published 13 February in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

The National Children’s Study, a decade-old effort to track children’s health from birth to age 21, is undergoing radical restructuring to cut costs. The streamlined version of the project has left scientists and autism advocacy groups concerned that the study will not provide the answers they had hoped.

Women who have high levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, early in their pregnancies are at increased risk of having children with autism, reports a study published 22 January in Molecular Psychiatry.

New Jersey’s autism rates, which are consistently higher than those of other U.S. states, add weight to the possibility of a true increase in autism prevalence, says Walter Zahorodny.

The availability of neighborhood resources, such as pediatricians and advocacy organizations, influences rates of autism diagnoses, according to research published 7 December in Social Science and Medicine.

Since 2000, the number of scientific papers published on autism has been growing faster than the overall rate of scientific publications. 

People with autism have fewer children than average, and so do their brothers, according to a study of Swedes born between 1950 and 1970.

Women who have the flu while pregnant double their risk of having a child with autism, according to a large study published 12 November in Pediatrics. The results add to growing evidence of a connection between maternal infection and autism.