Research on Head Circumference in Young Children with Autism
April 15, 2014
http://jcn.sagepub.com/content/29/3/412.abstract
Dr. Pasquale Accardo, James H. Franklin Professor of Developmental Pediatrics at and Interim Director of Virginia LEND at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), working with colleagues from Children's Hospital of Richmond, VCU, and Penn State University have been investigating the head circumference in young children with autism and the impact of different head circumference charts. The recently published article in the Journal of Child Neurology (http://jcn.sagepub.com/content/29/3/412.long ) reports on their research.
Abstract: The hypothesis that the presence of macrocephaly might vary with the specific growth chart used was tested by using the Nellahus, CDC, and recent Rollins et al revision head circumference charts to plot the head circumferences of 253 children with neurodevelopmental disorders and with ages between 12 to 36 months; of these children, 59 had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. The CDC and Rollins et al head circumference charts identified more cases of macrocephaly and fewer cases of microcephaly than did the older Nellhaus chart but did not significantly differ in their identification of macrocephaly in children with autism.