Live Near a Highway and Your Child May Be Autistic?

A study by California researchers has found that children born to mothers who lived some 309 meters [= approximately 1039 feet] from a freeway were twice as likely to be born on the autism spectrum. For the study, researchers interviewed and also examined 304 children on the autism spectrum and 259 typically developing children (as a control) who live in the Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento metropolitan areas.

I’m a native Californian (I’m from Oakland) and I can’t help saying, isn’t it kind of hard not to live within proximity of a freeway in those communities?

Too, families who live near the very busiest roadways in cities are in areas where they are more likely to have access to specialists in autism and early childhood development. They are therefore more likely to have a child evaluated and diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, and to be able to access services.

Small case in point: Currently I live in New Jersey, a state almost synonymous with its (not free; make sure you have your EZPass as you pass through the tolls) roadways, the NJ Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, Route 1…….. And yes, New Jersey indeed has the highest autism rate in the US, one of every 94 children in New Jersey being diagnosed with autism.

But, as has been said time and time again, correlation does not equal causation and Time magazine‘s review of the highway proximity/autism study cites other research published earlier this year. As noted in LAWeekly,

‘clusters’ of autistic children were found in ‘upper-middle-class neighborhoods where residents had higher-than-average levels of educational attainment or were located near major autism treatment centers (highway proximity wasn’t part of the equation)’

Such results suggest that children are more likely to be diagnosed with autism at least in part due to increased understanding about autism and accessibility of services.

As the new study‘s lead author, Heather Volk, a researcher at the Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said,

‘This study isn’t saying exposure to air pollution or exposure to traffic causes autism……But it could be one of the factors that are contributing to its increase.’

The data for the study was taken from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study, a population-based case-control study of young children between the ages of 24 and 60 months. The CHARGE study seeks to uncover the ‘environmental causes of autism,’ which a neurodevelopmental disability that affects a child’s social and communicative skills. Genes have regularly been mentioned as a possible cause of autism, though studies have so far pointed to numerous (even up to 100) genes that might be candidates. Look around the internet and you’ll see more theories about ‘what causes autism’ than you can shake the proverbial stick at, including the increasingly discredited notion that vaccines or something in vaccines might be linked to autism.

The study is to be published online in Environmental Health Perspectives and more discussion can be found at Left Brain/Right Brain.

Read more: environment & wildlife

Photo by PhilipC.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

David N.

3:59PM PST on Dec 25, 2010

Thanks for the article.

send a green star

Past Member .

2:53PM PST on Dec 21, 2010

I have no basis for this, but I believe one factor is food the mother eats while gestating. So much of our food, if your not vegan or vegetarian, is processed, lacks any nutrition to speak of, is contaminated and worthless to our bodies. That could be a factor.

Marianna B M.

2:05AM PST on Dec 21, 2010

sad

John B.

9:24PM PST on Dec 20, 2010

Last I was informed it was one of the chemicals used in vaccines which was linked to autism and this was traced to the explosion in autistic cases once there was an immunization program put in place in China. They went from about 10,000 cases up to 250,000 cases over about 5 years if I recall correctly.
So, why not pollution!
I wonder who funded the study?

Bridget D.

8:18AM PST on Dec 20, 2010

I guess what I would need to know is how many people had Autism in the past as opposed to now. Not sure if that's a study that can even be done, because were we really even diagnosing Autism 50 years ago? I think if there are more cases today than there were many many years ago, the pollutants may be the cause. Well, I live in NJ, and I am pregnant, so it's a little worrisome that so many children here get diagnosed. I guess thankfully I live in an area that does not have as much traffic. There are actually parts of NJ that seem like you're out in the country rather than a big city.

kenneth m.

10:31PM PST on Dec 19, 2010

What about driving on highways

Barbara E.

8:41PM PST on Dec 19, 2010

Interesting. thanx for post

Carole C.

6:03PM PST on Dec 19, 2010

We still don't know what is going on, although many theories have been thrown out there. It will be wonderful when we begin to understand.

Marti W.

5:51PM PST on Dec 19, 2010

Noted...so now what ???

Jacobo V.

5:49PM PST on Dec 19, 2010

New Jersey take heed! Who can tell me what is happening here in Puerto Rio are we #2?
Is presence of MSG in things entering the human body a concern with autism?