White-Matter Findings in Infants at High Risk for Autism

Among infants at high risk for autism, development in white-matter tracts differs between those who were and those who were not diagnosed with autism at 24 months.

Increasing evidence for onset of autistic behaviors in infancy warrants longitudinal neuroimaging of the earliest developmental trajectories. These researchers performed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in 92 children who had autistic siblings, normal gestations, and healthy mothers. DTI occurred at ages 6, 12, and 24 months.

At age 24 months, children underwent comprehensive autism and cognitive assessments. Twenty-eight were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and 64 were autism-negative. On DTI, fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of water diffusion along white-matter tracts, was significantly higher at 6 months among the ASD group than the non-ASD group, showed no between-group differences at 12 months, and was significantly l…

Reviewing Author

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Barbara Geller, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose