A second child is seven times more likely to be diagnosed with autism if an older sibling has the diagnosis, but environmental factors may be playing a significant role, according to a study of 1.5 million children born over a 24-year period.
“There’s definitely genetics going on in the pathway to autism spectrum disorders, but what you also see is that something else is going on as well,” said Therese Koops Gronberg, a biostatistician at Aarhus University in Denmark. “Compared to what previously was believed, it supports a lower genetic role.”
Read the full, original story here: Autism is shared among siblings, study finds
