Research has long shown that boys are over three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls. In fact, about 1 in 20 US boys are diagnosed with autism by age 8. For girls, the rate ranges from about 1 in 70 to 1 in 100. The complex neurodevelopmental condition, which typically affects social communication, interaction and behavior, is becoming more prevalent overall.
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Scientists have pointed the finger at genetic and biological differences, as well as diagnostic biases, as reasons Y boys are so unlucky. Now, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research believes it has identified a more specific X-planation. The answer may lie in the X chromosome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might remember from biology class that boys have an X and a Y chromosome, while girls have two X chromosomes. The long-time assumption is that the second X chromosome \u2014 also called Xi \u2014 is largely silent. Whitehead researchers suggest that the \u201cinactive X\u201d chromosome actually plays an active role in shaping gene expression across the genome, including many genes tied to autism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The theory \u2014 called the \u201cfemale protective effect\u201d \u2014 proposes that higher expression of certain regulatory genes from Xi allows girls to better buffer the effects of autism-associated mutations. In short, girls generally require a greater \u201cgenetic load\u201d \u2014 more, larger or more severe genetic mutations \u2014 to develop autism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Whitehead researchers believe the \u201cfemale protective effect\u201d extends to 17 other congenital and developmental disorders that primarily affect boys. They gave the example of pyloric stenosis, a treatable gastrointestinal condition that causes infants to projectile vomit. Boys are affected four times more often than girls. \u201cMany of the other congenital or developmental conditions we\u2019re pointing to aren\u2019t subject to diagnostic inequities in the way autism is,\u201d Harvard-MIT MD-PhD student Maya Talukdar said. \u201cThis strengthens the idea that the female protective effect is emerging from genetic differences in males and females.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study authors plan to further explore Xi to understand sex differences in disease to improve diagnosis and care. In the meantime, they warn that girls and women are frequently overlooked or diagnosed late with autism. They say that one reason is that much of autism research \u2014 and the screening tools born from this research \u2014 has long focused on boys. As such, there\u2019s limited scientific understanding of autism in females.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Autism symptoms include trouble making eye contact, difficulty understanding others\u2019 feelings, struggles making friends, repetitive movements, obsessive interest in specific objects and sensory issues. If you suspect you might have autism, you should consider consulting a doctor or mental health professional for a formal diagnosis or referral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Research has long shown that boys are over three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls. In fact, about 1 in 20 US boys are diagnosed with autism by age 8. For girls, the rate ranges from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1795,"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1794\/revisions\/1795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ril-va.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}