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No evidence of early head circumference enlargements in children later diagnosed with autism in Israel

View ORCID ProfileIlan Dinstein, View ORCID ProfileShlomi Haar, Shir Atsmon, Hen Schtaerman
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/103788
Ilan Dinstein
1Psychology Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel, 84105
2Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel, 84105
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  • For correspondence: dinshi@bgu.ac.il
Shlomi Haar
2Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel, 84105
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Shir Atsmon
2Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel, 84105
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Hen Schtaerman
3Child Development Center, Maccabi Health Services, Beer Sheva, Israel, 84893
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Abstract

Background Large controversy exists regarding the potential existence and clinical significance of larger brain volumes in toddlers who later develop autism. Assessing this relationship is important for determining the clinical utility of early head circumference (HC) measures and for assessing the validity of the early overgrowth hypothesis of autism, which suggests that early accelerated brain development may be a hallmark of the disorder

Method We performed a retrospective comparison of HC, height, and weight measurements between 66 toddlers who were later diagnosed with autism and 66 matched controls. These toddlers represent an unbiased regional sample from a single health service provider in the southern district of Israel. Using 4-12 measurements between birth and the age of two, we were able to characterize individual HC, height, and weight development with high precision and fit a negative exponential growth model to the data of each toddler with exceptional accuracy

Results The analyses revealed that HC sizes and growth rates were not significantly larger in toddlers with autism even when stratifying the autism group based on verbal capabilities at the time of diagnosis. In addition, there were no significant correlations between ADOS scores at the time of diagnosis and HC at any time-point during the first two years of life

Conclusions These negative results add to accumulating evidence, which suggest that brain volume is not necessarily larger in toddlers who develop autism. While early brain overgrowth may characterize specific individuals with autism, it is not likely to represent a common etiology of the entire autism population

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted January 27, 2017.
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No evidence of early head circumference enlargements in children later diagnosed with autism in Israel
Ilan Dinstein, Shlomi Haar, Shir Atsmon, Hen Schtaerman
bioRxiv 103788; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/103788
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No evidence of early head circumference enlargements in children later diagnosed with autism in Israel
Ilan Dinstein, Shlomi Haar, Shir Atsmon, Hen Schtaerman
bioRxiv 103788; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/103788

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