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A twin study of heritable and shared environmental contributions to autism. Journal of autism and developmental disorders Frazier, T. W., Thompson, L., Youngstrom, E. A., Law, P., Hardan, A. Y., Eng, C., Morris, N. 2014; 44 (8): 2013-2025

Abstract

The present study examined genetic and shared environment contributions to quantitatively-measured autism symptoms and categorically-defined autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Participants included 568 twins from the Interactive Autism Network. Autism symptoms were obtained using the Social Communication Questionnaire and Social Responsiveness Scale. Categorically-defined ASD was based on clinical diagnoses. DeFries-Fulker and liability threshold models examined etiologic influences. Very high heritability was observed for extreme autism symptom levels ([Formula: see text]). Extreme levels of social and repetitive behavior symptoms were strongly influenced by common genetic factors. Heritability of categorically-defined ASD diagnosis was comparatively low (.21, 95 % CI 0.15-0.28). High heritability of extreme autism symptom levels confirms previous observations of strong genetic influences on autism. Future studies will require large, carefully ascertained family pedigrees and quantitative symptom measurements.

View details for DOI 10.1007/s10803-014-2081-2

View details for PubMedID 24604525