[kosma]

There is research correlating autism and mothers taking certain medications (painkillers, antidepressants). Since autism is hereditary, there is a significant chance that these mothers are autistic too. Autistic people have a vastly high risk of depression, and often have unusual pain thresholds, requiring more painkillers. I would not be surprised of the correlation was real, but the direction of action was reversed; after all, it's plausible that autism causes the need for taking more medication.

[steve1977]

This was my thought as well. I’m likely on the spectrum (as I have learned recently, because of my kids) and I would consider myself hypersensitive. To a variety of sensory inputs - noise, smell, touch, heat, cold, tickling and probably also pain. The latter being hard to quantify of course.

But I could certainly imagine that a mother with autistic traits could be someone who takes painkillers more often than the average person.

[unyttigfjelltol]

That’s very interesting! I’ve been sleuthing for personal reasons and I’ve recently arrived at the central nervous system element called the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS), which integrates sensory processes including pain reception. I’m tracing a particular activator of the mineralocorticoid receptors for which NTS has special relevance, but the end target overall seems to be mTOR in the NTS, which isn’t so niche and is studied in autism.

[elcritch]

It seems that higher sensitivity to pain could be a very plausible cause. I believe there's studies showing lowered (and altered) pain tolerance with autism.

Though I'd expect that if aspirin did have an affect that it'd change the prevalence or severity of autism in children having genes related to autism.

There'd be a first order correction fornthe likelihood that aspirin is causitive by controlling for increased ibuprofen and tylonol usage as well. The second order correction would be whether autistic people were more likely to use aspirin over ibuprofen or tylonol, etc.

[WarOnPrivacy]

> Since autism is hereditary, there is a significant chance that these mothers are autistic too.

Yep. Two of my 5 are clearly HFA (1 diagnosed) and another shows strong indications. My wife and I have numerous family members that are somewhere on the spectrum. It's how this works.

[flakeoil]

How can one know it is due to DNA or how the brain works versus learned behaviour? I suppose it is possible to learn different traits and behaviour from parents so that the offspring behave in an autistic way even if they are not "physically" autistic.

[azinman2]

According to my friend who is a geneticist, 30% of cases of autism can be found in DNA. Clearly not all cases are.

[ellisv]

It's important to note our understanding is far from complete. There may be more genes associated with autism than we currently know. So 30% of cases may have a known genetic factor but that doesn't mean 70% don't have a genetic component.

[sheepybloke]

That's what our genetic councilor said as well. It's important to note autism is a spectrum and quite varied, some of it genetic and some of it related to other factors.

[matt-attack]

Well diagnosing autism is incredibly subjective anyway. It’s not like a broken arm.

[hbcondo714]

> Since autism is hereditary

Do you have a scientific source for this?

[jamedjo]

Twin studies are a classic demonstration of this: comparing identical twins to non-identical twins lets us prove a genetic component.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=669...

[SapporoChris]

Do you have any links to the research to back you claims?

[cyanydeez]

tl;dr: Spurious correlation machines produces results. Pirates and Climate change surprisingly disagree.

[gtowey]

With the current political climate, I think we are more likely to find the Health Department promoting cigarettes as a healthy way to relax.

[1shooner]

> the industrial revolution has corrupted the human genome far more than we can measure.

Ok, but do you have any objective measure to back up this claim?

[mschuster91]

> there is no evidence of gene expression for autism.

The fact that we haven't identified candidate genes for autism and a bunch of other mental health issues doesn't mean these aren't hereditary or have hereditary triggers that make outbreaks easier.

> if anything it is epigenetic caused by environmental pollutants and hormone exposure

Doubtful. The difference to older times is, we now properly diagnose mental health issues instead of just labeling affected people as "loons", locking them away in institutions or, like it happened with witch-burnings and in the NS Aktion T4, outright murder them.

[wizzwizz4]

Your first sentence is correct, but your second sentence is not.

[adrr]

Sure it can. Type 2 diabetes is both hereditary and lifestyle/behavioral influenced . Same with cancer, if you have cancer in your family your risk of getting cancer is higher. I would say most medical issues are both. Heart disease, gout, obesity, hypertension,strokes,asthma etc.

[VikingCoder]

Check out epigenetics.

"Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression that occur without altering the underlying DNA sequence. These changes, also known as epigenetic modifications, affect how genes are turned "on" or "off" and are influenced by factors like environment, lifestyle, and aging."

[tracerbulletx]

It's literally almost always both.

[amanaplanacanal]

You can have a genetic tendency to a certain outcome which is exacerbated by environmental factors. This is very common.

[creatonez]

That's exactly what autism is established to be... it has some genetic factors but it develops in the womb.

[gpderetta]

Reread the parent comment.

[perching_aix]

And so what doesn't make sense to you about those two sentences?

[wizzwizz4]

Polydactyly is both hereditary and acquired during development.