New NIH grant for the project "Autism in Preterm Birth"
Autism affects 2-3% of U.S. children and there is no cure. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to its etiology. Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received an NIH grant of 2.5 million USD for the 5-year project "Autism in Preterm Birth".
“Preterm birth occurs in 1 in 20 to 1 in 10 newborns”, says Professor Jonas F. Ludvigsson, principal investigator at Karolinska Institutet and pediatrician at Örebro University Hospital.
“Preterm birth is a major health problem and a leading cause of death among children under the age of five. Preterm birth is associated with a wide range of serious conditions in childhood and adulthood, and I see this project as a unique opportunity to better understand the etiology of autism, especially in preterm infants”, Professor Ludvigsson adds.
“We will use two population-based national prospective cohorts from Sweden and Finland to investigate preterm specific risk factors for autism," says principal investigator Sven Sandin, statistician and epidemiologist at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, KI, and Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA.
“In addition, we will analyze data enriched with genomic markers that can help us map genetic associations and risk pathways, leading to a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms," he adds.