http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011207/hl/autistic_1.html
Friday December 7 5:25 PM ET
By Joene Hendry
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children with autism appear to have a
higher-than-average risk of epilepsy, suggesting that the two share a common
brain abnormality, researchers report.
The investigators say that epilepsy should be suspected when an autistic
child shows signs of a seizure disorder.
Autism and epilepsy are outwardly very different. Epilepsy is a seizure
disorder; autism affects a person's ability to communicate, relate to others
and react to his or her environment--although some people with the disorder are
high-functioning.
But both are brain-based disorders, and past studies have shown that autism
and epilepsy often occur together, with epilepsy seen in up to 30% of people
with autism.
``We know there is a higher rate of seizure disorders in autism,'' Dr. John
Pomeroy told Reuters Health.
He and his colleagues at State University of New York-Stony Brook reviewed
brain-activity recordings called electroencephalograms (EEGs) from 38 children
with autism, aged 1 to 15. They found that 14 of these children, or 37%, also
had epilepsy.
All but two of these children had seizures or a worsening of their autistic
disorder prior to obtaining the EEG results. Those two children were both in
the lower-functioning range of autism, which, according to Pomeroy's team,
makes it more difficult to recognize possible signs of epilepsy.
Overall, the children with epilepsy were more likely than the other children
to have convulsions, ``staring episodes'' or a history of regression--a
worsening of autistic symptoms.
Despite their findings, Pomeroy and colleagues caution against conducting
routine EEGs in children with autism.
Unless there is evidence a child is having seizures or regression, Pomeroy
said, there is rarely epileptic-type activity revealed in the EEG.
Pomeroy's group noted that other behaviors seen in children with autism,
such as breath-holding spells and episodes of rage, rarely relate to epilepsy
and were not related in any children in this study.
The investigators conclude that the prevalence of epilepsy ''is
significantly higher than chance'' in children with autism. However, they add,
``there is little support to perform routine EEG'' in high-functioning autistic
children showing no signs of seizure disorders.
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