Morphological features in children with autism spectrum disorders: a matched case-control study

This study was designed to examine morphological features in a large group of children with autism spectrum disorder versus normal controls. Amongst 421 patients and 1,007 controls, 224 matched pairs were created. Prevalence rates and odds ratios were analyzed by conditional regression analysis, McNemar test or paired t-test matched pairs. Morphological abnormalities were significantly more prevalent in patients with autism than in the normal control group and 48 morphological features distinguished patients from controls. Our findings show that morphological features are associated with autism. Exploring potential underlying genetic mechanisms of this association might lead to a better understanding of autism.