title: Epilepsy and other neurological diseases in the parents of children with infantile autism. A case control study.
abstract: In order to study the broader phenotype of infantile autism (IA) we compared the rates and types of epilepsy and other neurological diseases in the parents of 111 consecutively admitted patients with IA with a matched control group of parents of 330 children from the general population. All participants were screened through the nationwide Danish National Hospital Register (DNHR). We inquired about epilepsy and other neurological diseases during an observation period of 27 years. A similar proportion of case- and control mothers had a diagnosis of any neurological disease, 9.9% vs 10.6%. For case fathers the proportion was 5.7% vs 9.7%. No single neurological disease was significantly more frequent among parents of persons with IA. Our study lent support to the notion that epilepsy and other neurological diseases are not part of the broader IA phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen 2400, Denmark. sem01@bbh.hosp.dk
authors.forename: Svend Erik
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Mouridsen
authors.forename: Bente
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.forename: Torben
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isager
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010641:Phenotype; D012042:Registries