Autism and Jaundice Babies: A Risk Factor by Dr. Nelson Mane D.C.
in Health (submitted 2010-10-13)
A new study in the journal of Pediatric Perinatal Epidemiology finds an association between babies that have Autism and babies born with jaundice. Babies born with jaundice have nearly fourfold risk of developing Autism. Jaundice or hyperbilirubinemia occurs when bilirubin ( a product of the breakdown of red blood cells) can not be cleared sufficiently by the liver. This condition is normally treated by with photo therapy. Approximately 50% of babies are born with jaundice but only about 5% require treatment. Please be cautious as this is only a risk factor and not a marker. Other risk factors include parental age, familial history, male child, breech presentation, birth before 35 weeks, low birth weight, mothers who used medicine during pregnancy. This study also found a strong association between neurological signs, particularly hypertonicity ( too much muscle tone) and autism. It is interesting to note that the liver is involved in detoxification a process which many believe is a problem with children on the autism spectrum and that jaundice involves the liver. As metal detoxification ( mercury and aluminum) are always the topic ( vaccines and autism) in the Autism community it would be interesting to see of those children with autism who had jaundice, how many reported symptoms after the vaccine. I am of the opinion that it is a total load problem that causes the child to decompensate. Total load being the summation of stressors on the child that cause the breakdown. Thus, if 1000 children received the vaccine and the vaccine was the only cause then all 1000 would develop an autism spectrum disorder. This does not occur as perhaps it is only the child with the unknown infection or in this case under functioning liver that breaks the camel back and decompensates the child. Or as in the recent legal case a child with an unknown mitochondrial issue.Thus the take home for parents is to know your risk factors and if they start to add up be on the look out for early signs. Early detection leads to early treatment which is always best.Dr. Nelson Mane D.C. is a chiropractic physician certified in both chiropractic orthopedics and neurology. He has sub specialty training in childhood neurobehavioral disorders as well as vestibular disorders and electro diagnostics. He was one of 11 doctors out of 60,000 chosen by the American Chiropractic Association to start the first Chiropractic neurology board back in 1989.Dr Mane is a D.A.N. (Defeat Autism Now) doctor. He is considered a pioneer in the use of Hemispheric Integration Therapy for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders. For more information regarding Dr. Nelson Mane D.C. and his unique approach combining functional medicine with Hemispheric Integration Therapy go to www.Hitautism.com.<p>For more information about Dr. Nelson Mane, D.C. and his treatment approach for ASD go to <a href=”http://www.manecenter.com/ADHD.htm”>http://www.manecenter.com/ADHD.htm</a>. <p>Pediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2008 Nov;22(6):562-8.Neonatal jaundice: a risk factor for infantile autism?Maimburg RD, Vaeth M, Schendel DE, Bech BH, Olsen J, Thorsen P.Department of Epidemiology, Institute of Public Health, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark. rmai@soci.au.dkAbstractIn a previous study, we found that infants transferred to a neonatal ward after delivery had an almost twofold increased risk of being diagnosed with infantile autism later in childhood in spite of extensive controlling of obstetric risk factors. We therefore decided to investigate other reasons for transfer to a neonatal ward, in particular hyperbilirubinaemia and neurological abnormalities. We conducted a population-based matched case-control study of 473 children with autism and 473 matched controls born from 1990 to 1999 in Denmark. Cases were children reported with a diagnosis of infantile autism in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals [CI] and likelihood ratio tests were used to test for effect modification. We found an almost fourfold risk for infantile autism in infants who had hyperbilirubinaemia after birth (OR 3.7 [95% CI 1.3, 10.5]). In stratified analysis, the association appeared limited to term infants (>or=37 weeks gestation). A strong association was also observed between abnormal neurological signs after birth and infantile autism, especially hypertonicity (OR 6.7 [95% CI 1.5, 29.7]). No associations were found between infantile autism and low Apgar scores, acidosis or hypoglycaemia. Our findings suggest that hyperbilirubinaemia and neurological abnormalities in the neonatal period are important factors to consider when studying causes of infantile autism.PMID: 19000294 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Dr. Nelson Mane D.C. is a chiropractic physician certified in both chiropractic orthopedics and neurology. He has sub specialty training in childhood neurobehavioral disorders as well as vestibular disorders and electro diagnostics.