SYNOPSIS
Following implementation of changes in a pediatric medical practice to address autism risks, no new cases of autism occurred.
TITLE
Can awareness of medical pathophysiology in autism lead to primary care autism prevention strategies?
Citation
Mumper E. North American Journal of Medicine and Science. 2013;6:134-144.
Summary
In 2005, the author’s pediatric practice implemented seven changes to address autism risks, focusing on minimizing environmental toxicant exposure, encouraging prolonged breastfeeding, recommending probiotics, providing nutritional counseling, limiting use of antibiotics and acetaminophen and allowing a modified vaccine schedule. No new cases of autism occurred in children born between 2005 and 2011, even though the CDC autism rate would have predicted about six new cases in the practice over that period. The author cautions that “epidemiology may be too blunt a tool to determine all risks for subsets of the population who may be more vulnerable to vaccine reactions.”