健康英语新闻:Autistic children have bigger brains: study

BEIJING, May 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Children with autism have slightly bigger brains than children without the condition, a study suggests.

The research published in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry noted the difference in the brain size appears related to increased rates of brain growth before age 2.

The researchers from the University of North Carolina also pointed out that though the enlargement continues, the increased growth does not.

In 2005, the researchers studied a group of 2-year-old children, and found out the ones with autism had brains that were 5% to 10% larger than children without it.

Now the researchers assessed the same group of children at age 5, the psychiatrists re-scanned the brains of 38 children with autism and 21 without the condition. The autistic children still had slightly larger brains, but they had grown at the same rate as the comparison group.

This finding could lead to a better understanding of the genes that drive autism, which, in turn, could lead to earlier identification and treatment of the disorder, said study researcher Joseph Piven, MD, according to media report.