UC San Diego Researchers Detect Autism in Blood Test at Earlier Ages

March 12, 2015

If autism were detectable at an earlier age, autistic children could receive treatments and therapies earlier in life that could lead to better outcomes throughout their life course. Thanks to researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine, early detection of autism is becoming more of a possibility. The international research team was able to detect autism from the blood samples of boys as young as one year old, by detecting particular “genetic fingerprints”, or biomarkers, that are found in children with autism.

The average age of autism detection in the United States is 4-5 years old. Researchers are hopeful that blood tests will result in earlier detection of autism, and consequently, have better outcomes for kids diagnosed with the cognitive disability.