Autism: Study finds slightly higher risk of diagnosis in areas with more lithium in drinking water, but experts say more research is needed

Cnn
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A New work The tap with higher lithium levels found a risk of moderate higher autism spectrum disorder in pregnant people who were exposed to water, but experts noted that this relationship did not show a direct connection between the two.

According to data from the US Disease Control and Prevention Centers, 1 from 36 children in the USA to 1 is diagnosed every year with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Scientists still do not know the exact cause of autism, A developmental disorder. It may be a genetic factor, but some are looking at potential environmental reasons.

Cases may be on the rise, but this is also uncertain. A study This year, the diagnosis of autism in the New York-New Jersey region was doubled between 2000-2016 between the years of age groups. 2021 Report He found similar increases in cases, but the CDC says that the increasing number of cases is probably linked to more doctors scanning for the situation.

Lithium one alkaline metal This can be found naturally in some food and groundwater. It is used in the treatment of batteries, grease and air conditioners, bipolar disorder and some blood disorders. Levels in US drinking water are not regulated, According to the US Geology research.

A New study, He found a small relationship between the lithium and the diagnosis of autism in Denmark, published in Jama Pediatrics magazine on Monday, where the lithium level of researchers in drinking water is similar to the American water systems.

Researchers checked a database of people with psychiatric disorders for children born between 2000-2013 and to find information about 8,842 ASD cases and 43,864 participants without ASD. Later, they measured lithium concentration in 151 public water business, which served more than half of the Danish population and mapped the places where pregnant people live.

As the lithium levels in water increased, the risk of diagnosis of ASD had a modest increase. In particular, compared to people at the lowest exposure level, there was a risk of 24% to 26% higher ASD who had the second and third highest exposure during pregnancy It was diagnosed in children. The highest exposure group had 46% higher risk than the lowest exposure level.

The researchers could not say how much water they drink, but they partially chose Denmark because the inhabitants are consuming the lowest amount of bottled water in Europe.

Experts, it is important to state that lithium exposure can not show directly the diagnosis of autism.

He is a professor of neurology at David Geffen Medical Faculty in UCLA and a professor of epidemiology and environmental health at UCLA Fielding Public Health School. Beate Ritz, more work is required.

Ritz said in a news bulletin, “Any drinking water pollutant that may affect the developing human brain deserves an intensive examination,” he said. He added that the research should be reproduced in other countries to look for a similar connection.

According to an editor published in addition to the study, the results of the findings are complex when it comes to public health policy. Lithium levels in water are at concentrations where the study associated with a potential ASD risk is also linked. HEALTH BENEFITS such as psychiatric disorders and lower hospitalization rates for suicide.

He is a professor of neurology and psychology at Harvard Medical School. “If all these associations are valid, Solomon wisdom will be asked to develop guidelines for lithium in the maximum preservative of the whole population of Solomon Wisdom,” David C. Bellinger wrote. “It will be difficult to distinguish causality from fake associations until ASD’s basic biology is better understood.”

Dr. Max Wiznitzer points to other research on the effects of lithium on pregnant people who take mental health disorders. These studies, which look at people who are exposed to much higher levels than found in drinking water, do not show a connection with autism spectrum disorder.

“This is an interesting relationship, but causality was certainly not proven, W. “We have to see if there is a small amount of lithium in the water source and whether there is a biologically prone mechanism, but in women with bipolar disorder, the lithium pharmacological dose has not been reported that the risk of ASD has increased.”

Other studies also suggested connections with things such as pesticides between ASD and environmental exposures, air pollution And ftalates. However, none of them point to any of these factors as a direct reason for disorder.

Wiznitzer said it was difficult to prove the connection between environmental exposure and ASD. With research showing that the increase in exposure to air pollution increases the risk of giving birth to a child from ASD, he wonders whether pollution is a decisive factor or whether there is only the population living in more dirty areas.

“There are too many speculation about environmental factors, but how many of them are really causatively related?” Wiznitzer said. “We are bombed with various environmental stress factors in our daily lives. We should basically find out how to travel them safely, and this is probably not high in our list.”