Posted on ADHD, Autism

“New Study: Link Found Between Neighborhood Conditions and ADHD Signs in Autistic Children”

Study finds poverty, lack of services may play a role
A study suggests that poverty and the lack of services may have an impact.

Children with autism who were born in underprivileged neighbourhoods are more likely to exhibit more significant symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) than those born in more affluent communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute.

This groundbreaking study is the first of its kind to explore the relationship between neighbourhood factors and ADHD in both autistic and non-autistic children. The research offers new perspectives on mental health conditions and could play a key role in shaping public policy changes to enhance health equity.

“We discovered that certain neighbourhood factors are closely linked to ADHD symptoms in autistic children”” stated Catrina Club, the primary author of the study. Calub is a postdoctoral researcher working in the laboratory of Julie Schweitzer, who is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the MIND Institute.

“In our study, we found that this effect was only present in autistic children and not in typically developing kids or in kids with other developmental disabilities. It suggests that when autistic children live in neighbourhoods with fewer resources, they tend to exhibit more pronounced ADHD symptoms,” explained Club.

ADHD symptoms may include higher rates of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior. It is associated with:

  • Challenges in school performance and relationships with friends
  • Lower self-esteem and greater risk for anxiety and depression
  • Higher potential for substance use disorders and accidents
  • Emotional dysregulation and conduct problems

Study expands findings from long-term research

The researchers utilized data from two studies: the long-running Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) study led by Irva Hertz-Picciotto at the MIND Institute and the ReCHARGE follow-up project.

The research team examined 246 children with autism, 85 with developmental delays but not autism, and 193 neurotypical children. They then used the Child Opportunity Index, which utilizes census data to analyze over 30 neighbourhood characteristics. These characteristics include socioeconomics, access to green spaces, single-parent households, and the presence of early childhood education centres.

The index encompasses education, health and environment, and social and economic resources. Higher scores are linked to better childhood health. Of the three domains, the scores for education and social and economic resources were most strongly related to ADHD symptoms.

The analysis showed the Child Opportunity Index scores at birth were a strong predictor for ADHD symptoms in adolescence in autistic children but not in the other groups. Calub noted that the finding was unexpected.

“These results are quite concerning,” Calub said. “Those with both autism and ADHD are already more likely to have additional challenges—behaviorally, cognitively, emotionally, and socially. Being born in a low-income neighbourhood puts them at an even greater disadvantage. This adds to the evidence that more resources are needed for underserved areas and specifically for those who have conditions like autism.”

The need for a larger, more diverse sample

Calub pointed out that more research is needed to determine if the obtained results are conclusive.

apply to a larger group.

“It will be important for future studies to be larger and more diverse. This will help us learn whether neighbourhood conditions might also influence ADHD symptoms in other groups, such as youth without autism, or in Black, Asian, and Native American individuals, who were underrepresented in our sample,” Caleb added.

These findings also provide insights on how to target preventive strategies to reduce the risk of increased ADHD symptoms, as noted by Schweitzer, who was also a co-author on the study.

“ADHD is highly prevalent in the general population and is common in autistic youth. If we can find ways to increase resources in these neighborhoods, we have the potential to improve academic, social, mental, and physical health outcomes, particularly for autistic youth, and also decrease long-term economic costs,” Schweitzer explained.

Calub and Schweizer assert the study’s findings should motivate policymakers to allocate more resources for underserved communities. Furthermore, they suggest that incorporating the Child Opportunity Index and other neighborhood metrics could yield fresh insights for future studies to guide policy.

Posted on Autism

Autistic Communication and Why People Think We’re Narcissists (Double Empathy)

Autistic individuals are frequently wrongly labelled as narcissists, but the truth is that we just communicate differently (double empathy), which can result in misunderstandings. In this video, I highlight common autistic conversational traits that neurotypicals may misinterpret as narcissistic traits. I also explore the concept of conversational narcissism.

Posted on Diet, Exercise

“Sport or Snack: How Our Brain Decides”

Autism and exercise

The decision-making process in our brain has long been a mystery to science. However, researchers at ETH Zurich have decoded the specific brain chemical and nerve cells responsible for such decisions: orexin as the messenger substance and the neurons that produce it.

The neuroscientific principles mentioned are important because a large number of individuals do not engage in sufficient physical activity. Many of us have likely chosen to forgo exercise in favor of other daily temptations at least once or multiple times. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of adolescents and 27 percent of adults do not get enough exercise. Additionally, obesity is rapidly rising, affecting not only adults but also children and adolescents.

Focus on orexin

“Despite these statistics, many people are able to resist the constantly present temptations and get enough exercise,” says Denis Burdakov, Professor of Neuroscience at ETH Zurich. “We wanted to understand what it is in our brain that assists us in making these decisions.”

Sure, here is the revised text:In their experiments with mice, the researchers demonstrated that orexin plays a crucial role in this process. It is one of over a hundred messenger substances active in the brain. While chemical messengers like serotonin and dopamine have been known for a long time and their functions largely decoded, orexin was discovered relatively recently, around 25 years ago. Scientists are now gradually uncovering its functions, and Burdakov is one of the researchers dedicated to studying orexin.

Existing knowledge can’t explain the choice

“In neuroscience, dopamine is often cited as the reason for our choices in various activities,” explains Burdakov. This neurotransmitter plays a crucial role in our overall motivation. “However, our current understanding of dopamine does not provide a simple explanation for why we might choose to exercise over eating,” the scientist elaborates. “Dopamine is released in the brain both when we eat and when we exercise, which doesn’t clarify why we make one choice over the other.”

In order to determine what drives certain behavior, the researchers set up a complex experiment for mice. In this experiment, the mice were given the freedom to choose from eight different options during ten-minute trials. The options included a running wheel and a “milkshake bar” where they could enjoy a standard strawberry-flavored milkshake. According to Burdakov, mice enjoy milkshakes for the same reasons people do: they contain high levels of sugar and fat and taste good.

Less time at the milkshake bar

In their experiment, the scientists compared different groups of mice: one group consisted of normal mice, and the other group had their orexin systems blocked, either with a drug or through genetic modification of their cells.

The mice with an intact orexin system spent twice as much time on the running wheel and half as much time at the milkshake bar as the mice whose orexin system had been blocked. Interestingly, however, the behavior of the two groups didn’t differ in experiments in which the scientists only offered the mice either the running wheel or the milkshake. This means that the primary role of the orexin system is not to control how much the mice move or how much they eat. Rather, it seems central to making the decision between one and the other when both options are available. Without orexin, the decision was strongly in favor of the milkshake, and the mice gave up exercising in favor of eating.

Helping people who do little exercise

The researchers at ETH Zurich believe that orexin may be responsible for decision-making in humans, as the brain functions involved are practically the same in both species. Daria Peleg-Raibstein, a group leader at ETH Zurich, who conducted the study with Denis Burdakov, stated that further verification in humans is needed. This could involve studying patients with restricted orexin systems due to genetic reasons, which affects about one in two thousand people who suffer from narcolepsy. Another approach would be to observe individuals receiving a drug that blocks orexin, as such drugs are authorized for patients with insomnia.

“If we understand how the brain arbitrates between food consumption and physical activity, we can develop more effective strategies for addressing the global obesity epidemic and related metabolic disorders,” says Peleg-Raibstein. In particular, interventions could be developed to help overcome exercise barriers in healthy individuals and those whose physical activity is limited. However, Burdakov points out that these would be important questions for scientists involved in clinical research in humans. He and his group have dedicated themselves to basic neuroscientific research. Next, he wants to find out how the orexin neurons interact with the rest of the brain when making decisions like the one between exercise and snacking.””