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Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

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Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#2

Post by hereme888 »

Interesting. Mutations have their uses, but not all.

The increasing rates of Autism now are most likely the result of increasingly advanced maternal age for pregnancies.

Healthy BMI, cardiovascular fitness, and youth are some of the key factors to a healthy pregnancy.

Edit: I didn't mean to say that advanced maternal age is the "only" reason for autism. I was just quoting what I was taught to be one of the main factors for the increasing rates of autism. Some can argue it's increased testing, etc.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#3

Post by amelius »

hereme888 wrote: post #2

Interesting. Mutations have their uses, but not all. The increasing rates of Autism now are most likely the result of increasingly advanced maternal age for pregnancies. Healthy BMI, cardiovascular fitness, and youth are some of the key factors to a healthy pregnancy. Edit: I didn't mean to say that advanced maternal age is the "only" reason for autism. I was just quoting what I was taught to be one of the main facto…

Source?

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#4

Post by hereme888 »

amelius wrote: post #3
hereme888 wrote: post #2

Interesting. Mutations have their uses, but not all. The increasing rates of Autism now are most likely the result of increasingly advanced maternal age for pregnancies. Healthy BMI, cardiovascular fitness, and youth are some of the key factors to a healthy pregnancy. Edit: I didn't mean to say that advanced maternal age is the "only" reason for autism. I was just quoting what I was taught to be one of the main facto…

Source?

The OBGYN director taught me this during a lecture at my hospital (I'm a medical student). He's also a PhD. It was casual conversation, so I don't have the sources.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#7

Post by QuercusMax »

hereme888 wrote: post #2

Interesting. Mutations have their uses, but not all. The increasing rates of Autism now are most likely the result of increasingly advanced maternal age for pregnancies. Healthy BMI, cardiovascular fitness, and youth are some of the key factors to a healthy pregnancy. Edit: I didn't mean to say that advanced maternal age is the "only" reason for autism. I was just quoting what I was taught to be one of the main facto…

That certainly doesn't explain an awful lot of cases. Two of the most fit women I knew had autistic kids in their early 20s. And "blame the mother" has a really bad history for autism.

Re: Is autism the legacy of humans evolving the ability to innovate?

#10

Post by notahacker »

QuercusMax wrote: post #7
hereme888 wrote: post #2

Interesting. Mutations have their uses, but not all. The increasing rates of Autism now are most likely the result of increasingly advanced maternal age for pregnancies. Healthy BMI, cardiovascular fitness, and youth are some of the key factors to a healthy pregnancy. Edit: I didn't mean to say that advanced maternal age is the "only" reason for autism. I was just quoting what I was taught to be one of the main facto…

That certainly doesn't explain an awful lot of cases. Two of the most fit women I knew had autistic kids in their early 20s. And "blame the mother" has a really bad history for autism.

Surely increased emphasis on actually diagnosing it has to be one of the bigger drivers.
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