| NHS issues response to newspaper article | Posted on 06/11/2008 in Medical Government/ NHS related news The NHS has issued a feature in response to a Daily Telegraph article which stated that "children who live in areas with heavy rainfall could be more likely to develop autism".
The newspaper's story followed research by Dr Michael Waldman and colleagues from Cornell University, Indiana University, Purdue University and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Stating that rain could be an "environmental trigger" for the condition, the study could not find the reason behind the association.
Responding to the research, the NHS story says that it can only "demonstrate an association", therefore not proving rainfall has any connection with the development of autism.
The article adds that other factors may determine why some children in the specific areas become autistic, however the causes remain unclear and are thought to include environmental, genetic and medical factors.
It continues: "If there is an association between rainfall and autism, it may be that increased rainfall is obscuring the true causative factor, for example that high rainfall causes children to stay indoors and watch more television, play computer games, etc."
According to the National Autistic Society, a survey by the Office for National Statistics found that 90 in every 10,000 children and young people have autism spectrum disorders.Other news stories from 06/11/2008
Read more in the Zenopa News Archive
How this news is generated
|  |
|
