Christine Ladd-Acosta:
It’s a great question.
There has been some research and more recent years on environmental factors. And by environment, I really mean anything outside of our genes. And, to date, the science really points most strongly to several factors we have learned or environments, including preterm birth.
So individuals that are preemies have a higher likelihood of autism. Pregnancies where moms experience pregnancy conditions have also been associated with risk of autism in their offspring. And there have been some studies on chemical toxicants, things like the air we breathe and air quality and trying to understand whether that impacts autism.
Certainly, there are other environmental exposures that we do think need to be considered, and in particular in the context of a person’s underlying genetic liability for autism.
