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Simultaneous Eye Tracking and Single-Neuron Recordings in Human Epilepsy Patients
Published on: June 17, 2019
Autism and epilepsy: A population-based nationwide cohort study
Heléne E K Sundelin1, Henrik Larsson2, Paul Lichtenstein2
1From the Department of Pediatrics (H.E.K.S.), University Hospital, Linköping; Departments of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (H.L., P.L., C.A., C.M.H., J.F.L.) and Clinical Neuroscience (T.T.), Karolinska Institutet; Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital (C.A.), Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm; Department of Pediatrics (J.F.L.), University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden; and Division of Epidemiology and Public Health (J.F.L.), School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK. helene.sundelin@hotmail.com.
Individuals with epilepsy face a significantly higher risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly when epilepsy begins in childhood. This increased risk extends to their siblings and children, indicating a potential shared genetic basis.
Area of Science:
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Epilepsy research
- Genetics of neurological conditions
Background:
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and epilepsy are complex neurodevelopmental conditions.
- Previous studies suggest a potential link between ASD and epilepsy, but shared etiology requires further investigation.
- Understanding the familial risk can provide insights into underlying genetic and environmental factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in individuals with epilepsy.
- To examine the risk of ASD in first-degree relatives (siblings and offspring) of individuals with epilepsy.
- To explore the potential shared etiology between epilepsy and ASD.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the Swedish Patient Register to identify 85,201 individuals with epilepsy.
- Included siblings (n=80,511) and offspring (n=98,534) of individuals with epilepsy.
- Employed Cox and logistic regression models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and odds ratios (ORs) for ASD diagnosis, comparing epilepsy patients and their relatives to matched controls.
Main Results:
- Individuals with epilepsy showed a substantially increased risk of future ASD diagnosis (HR 10.49).
- Siblings (HR 1.62) and offspring (HR 1.64) of individuals with epilepsy also had a significantly higher risk of ASD.
- The risk was particularly elevated for offspring of mothers with epilepsy (HR 1.91) and for individuals diagnosed with epilepsy in childhood.
Conclusions:
- Individuals with epilepsy, especially those with childhood-onset epilepsy, are at a markedly increased risk for ASD.
- The elevated ASD risk observed in siblings and offspring suggests a shared genetic or etiological basis between the two conditions.
- Findings support the hypothesis of a common underlying etiology contributing to both epilepsy and autism spectrum disorder.
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