Seizures, convulsions & vaccines
Autism & Vaccines
Unprovoked Seizures in First Year of Life May Signal Autism
May 27, 2008 (London, United Kingdom) In a population-based study of close to
100 children from Iceland who had unprovoked seizures in the first year of life,
13.7% went on to have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Having symptomatic seizures (with a known cause) as opposed to nonsymptomatic or
cryptogenic seizures (with an unknown cause) was associated with an almost
9-fold higher risk of subsequent autism.
Evald Saemundsen, PhD, from the division of autism and communication disorders,
State Diagnostic and Counseling Center, in Kopavogur, Iceland, reported these
findings in an oral presentation at the 7th Annual International Meeting for
"A history of seizure in the first year of life should attract attention to the
possibility of subsequent ASD, particularly in cases where seizures are of
symptomatic origin," he said.
Epilepsy and ASD
Epilepsy (recurrent, unprovoked seizures) was 1 of the first biological
factors associated with autism, Dr. Saemundsen noted. Cases studies have
reported a high prevalence of autism in children with previous infantile spasms,
a type of epilepsy. But it was unknown whether other unprovoked seizures in the
first year of life present a risk of ASD.
The researchers aimed to determine whether there was a link between unprovoked
seizures in the first year of life and ASD.
They examined hospital records from 1982 to 1998 to identify all pediatric
patients in Iceland who had been diagnosed with seizures during their first year
Of the 121 children they identified, 5 had died and 1 lived abroad. The parents
of the remaining 115 children were contacted, and 95 parents consented to allow
their children 61 girls and 34 boys, with a mean age of 11 years to
participate in the study.
The parents replied to the social communication questionnaire, which was used as
an initial test of the children's autistic behaviors. The children were then
assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism
Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and/or the Childhood Autism Rating Scale
Of the 95 children, 17 had infantile spasms and 78 had other types of seizures.
A total of 13 children 8 girls and 5 boys had ASD. All but 1 had
intellectual disability, and 6 had profound intellectual disability (IQ < 20).
Of the 13 children with ASD, 6 had infantile spasms, and 7 had other types of
epilepsy. The children with infantile spasms were more likely to have subsequent
ASD than were children with other types of epilepsy (odds ratio, 1.55; 95% CI,
0.33 – 7.37).
Symptomatic Seizures Strongly Predicted ASD
Children with seizures of symptomatic origin, irrespective of type, were
nearly 9 times more likely to develop ASD than were those who had nonsymptomatic
seizures (OR, 8.73; 95% CI, 1.88 – 40.54).
The high prevalence of ASD (13.7%) in children with unprovoked seizures in the
first year of life that was found in this study warrants further investigation,
said Dr. Saemundsen.
The article about the current study is about to be published, he told
7th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research: Oral Presentation
113.7. May 15-17, 2008.