Causes of Pervasive developmental disorders
Causes of Pervasive developmental disorders (Diseases Database):
The follow list shows some of the possible medical causes of Pervasive developmental disorders
that are listed by the Diseases Database:
Source: Diseases Database
Pervasive developmental disorders Causes: Book Excerpts
Related information on causes of Pervasive developmental disorders:
As with all medical conditions,
there may be many causal factors.
Further relevant information on causes of Pervasive developmental disorders may be found in:
Causes of Pervasive developmental disorders: Online Medical Books
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Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration,
for more information about the causes of Pervasive developmental disorders.
Autistic disorder:
Causes and incidence
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))
The causes of autistic disorder remain unclear but are thought to include psychological, physiologic, and sociological factors. Much evidence has accumulated to suggest a biological substrate. The parents of a child who’s autistic may appear distant and unaffectionate. However, because children who are autistic are unresponsive or respond with rigid, screaming resistance to touch and attention, parental remoteness may be merely a frustrated, helpless reaction to this disorder, not its cause.
Some children who are autistic show abnormal but nonspecific EEG findings that suggest brain dysfunction, possibly resulting from trauma, disease, or a structural abnormality. Autistic disorder has also been associated with maternal rubella, untreated phenylketonuria, tuberous sclerosis, anoxia during birth, encephalitis, infantile spasms, and fragile X syndrome. Studies have established a link with abnormalities in neurotransmitters, including (in some cases) increased dopamine and increased serotonin. There appears to be a genetic component as well; between 2% and 4% of siblings of those with autism also had autistic disorders at a rate higher than the general population.
Autistic disorder is rare, affecting 4 to 5 children per 10,000 births. It affects three to four times more boys than girls.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005
Autistic disorder:
Causes
(Handbook of Diseases)
Autistic disorder is thought to result from a combination of psychological, physiologic, and sociological factors. The parents of an autistic child may appear distant and unaffectionate. However, because autistic children are unresponsive or respond with rigid, screaming resistance to touch and attention, parental remoteness may be merely a frustrated, helpless reaction to this disorder, not its cause.
Some autistic children show abnormal but nonspecific EEG findings that suggest brain dysfunction, possibly resulting from trauma, disease, or a structural abnormality. Autistic disorder also has been associated with maternal rubella, untreated phenylketonuria, tuberous sclerosis, anoxia during birth, encephalitis, infantile spasms, and fragile syndrome X.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003
Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) Spectrum:
Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorder Spectrum - etiology
(The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult)
- No single cause of autism identified, syndrome likely has multiple etiologies; toxic factors are controversial, dysimmune causes under research
- Neuroimaging reveals increased brain size
- Elevated serotonin (research)
- Twin genetic studies implicate genetic factors
- Siblings of proband at higher risk
- Monozygotic twins have higher concordance rate than dizygotic twins
- ~1/100 persons with autism exhibit fragile X anomaly
- Rett disorder caused in a majority of cases by mutations in the MeCP2 gene
- Rate of autism in tuberous sclerosis elevated
- No proof that environmental agents such as mercury or gluten cause autism, but many claims have been made.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult, 2008
Developmental Disabilities:
Developmental Disabilities - pathophysiology
(The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult)
- This is highly variable depending on etiology, which can include genetic, familial, metabolic, infectious, endocrinologic, traumatic, anatomic brain malformations, environmental toxins, and degenerative disorders as causes. These disorders often result in some neurologic or neuromuscular injury causing the delay. In many cases, the etiology is never determined.
- Prevalence of this group of disorders may vary depending on how inclusive the definition. The milder delays are quite common and can be found in any pediatric practice. Some disorders in this grouping are more prevalent in boys. The long-term outcome depends on the severity and type of delay, with the more involved children usually having lifelong disability.
Developmental Disabilities - etiology
Specific etiologies are too numerous to list completely but a partial list of the more common causes includes:
- Genetic/familial:
- Fragile X syndrome
- Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome)
- Other chromosomal abnormalities
- Tuberous sclerosis
- Neurofibromatosis
- Phenylketonuria
- Muscular dystrophy
- Nervous system anomalies:
- Hydrocephalus
- Lissencephaly
- Spina bifida
- Seizures
- Infections:
- Prenatal cytomegalovirus
- Rubella
- Toxoplasmosis
- HIV
- Postnatal bacterial meningitis
- Neonatal herpes simplex
- Endocrinologic:
- Congenital hypothyroidism
- Environment:
- Heavy metal poisoning such as lead
- In utero drug or alcohol exposure
- Trauma/injury:
- Closed head trauma
- Asphyxia
- Stroke
- Perinatal cerebral hemorrhages
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: The 5-Minute Pediatric Consult, 2008
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