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| 1: J Autism Dev Disord. 1999 Apr;29(2):113-9. | Related Articles, Links |
Microcephaly and macrocephaly in autism.
Fombonne E, Roge B, Claverie J, Courty S, Fremolle J.
Institute of Psychiatry, MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, London, United Kingdom.
Data from a series of 126 autistic children ages 2-16 years and referred to an
Autism Diagnosis Unit in South-West France were examined. Macrocephaly (head
circumference > 97th centile) was observed in 16.7% of the sample, a
significantly higher proportion than that expected. Macrocephaly was more
frequent among older subjects but was otherwise not associated with gender,
developmental level, the presence of epilepsy or of medical disorders, or
severity of autistic symptomatology. Microcephaly (head circumference < 3rd
centile) was also significantly raised and found in 15.1% of the sample.
Microcephaly was significantly associated with the presence of medical
disorders. Results support those from recent studies suggesting a raised rate of
macrocephaly in autism which, pooling published data, can be estimated to be
20%. It is argued that the raised incidence of microcephaly among
low-functioning autistic subjects with medical disorders might have contributed
to delay the recognition of an increased head circumference among a minority of
subjects with idiopathic autism.
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