Epilim & autism?

Some people may respond regarding my previous posts on this that the numbers of people taking these drugs during pregnancy may be fairly small, and has probably been reduced in the last five years because of increased awareness of the risks.

In terms of the overall factors influencing occurrence of autism, those who have used the drug may be too few to have had any real effect.

But it isn't just about whether a drug has increased risks of autism, it is whether that causal connection helps to identify other causes of autism.

The spina bifida connection is different because the side-effect of the drug affects the spine, whereas with autism it may be to do with the neural transmitter modification.

However whatever consequence sodium valproate/valproic acid has, is the mechanism involved a clue to what actually causes autism more generally? Can we learn something from this about the causes of autism? Could this better focus autism research?

Science involves identifying links and connections. Proving is often a long drawn out and tedious process of gathering difficult data and carefully analysing the results. But identifying the connections to research in the first place is often down to observation and recognition of what is possible.

The worrying thing here is that, despite evidence that seems to suggest it, the impact on autism isn't discussed anywhere, or at least not here in the UK, and not anywhere on the NAS website. Evidence like this has to be around for people to spot such a connection in the first place.

By keeping things hush hush, how many opportunities to make key realisations about the causes of autism are being missed?

Some people may respond regarding my previous posts on this that the numbers of people taking these drugs during pregnancy may be fairly small, and has probably been reduced in the last five years because of increased awareness of the risks.

In terms of the overall factors influencing occurrence of autism, those who have used the drug may be too few to have had any real effect.

But it isn't just about whether a drug has increased risks of autism, it is whether that causal connection helps to identify other causes of autism.

The spina bifida connection is different because the side-effect of the drug affects the spine, whereas with autism it may be to do with the neural transmitter modification.

However whatever consequence sodium valproate/valproic acid has, is the mechanism involved a clue to what actually causes autism more generally? Can we learn something from this about the causes of autism? Could this better focus autism research?

Science involves identifying links and connections. Proving is often a long drawn out and tedious process of gathering difficult data and carefully analysing the results. But identifying the connections to research in the first place is often down to observation and recognition of what is possible.

The worrying thing here is that, despite evidence that seems to suggest it, the impact on autism isn't discussed anywhere, or at least not here in the UK, and not anywhere on the NAS website. Evidence like this has to be around for people to spot such a connection in the first place.

By keeping things hush hush, how many opportunities to make key realisations about the causes of autism are being missed?