No evidence for a clear link between active intestinal inflammation and autism

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No evidence for a clear link between active intestinal inflammation and

autism

based on analyses of faecal calprotectin and rectal nitric oxide.

Fernell E, Fagerberg UL, Hellstrom PM.

Acta Paediatr. 2007 Apr 27; [Epub ahead of print]

Department of Neuropaediatrics, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital,

Karolinska

Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden.

Aim: Due to parental concern regarding the child's bowel habits and the

ongoing

discussion whether there might be an association between autism and

intestinal

inflammation, two inflammatory markers were analysed in a group of children

with

autism. Methods: Twenty-four consecutive children with autism (3-13 years)

of

unknown aetiology were investigated with respect to faecal calprotectin and

rectal nitric oxide (NO). Results: One child who previously had a severe

Clostridium difficile infection displayed raised levels of both these

inflammatory markers and one child with extreme constipation for whom only

calprotectin was possible to measure had raised levels. The remaining

children

displayed results that did not indicate an active inflammatory status in the

intestine when the two inflammatory markers were combined. Conclusion: By

the

use of two independent markers of inflammatory reactions in the gut, i.e.

rectal

NO and faecal calprotectin we were not able to disclose evidence of a link

between the autistic disorder and active intestinal inflammation.

PMID: 17465982 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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