Women victims of violence could have children with autism

Research scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) conducted a study which discovered that women who have suffered abuse during childhood, have the risk of having children with autism.

People who suffer from this disease commonly have difficulty to communicate with their environment, up to the moment it has not been discovered a cure for these patients, but there is a series of treatments.

“We knew that with autism there are many complications during the pregnancy, risk factors that have been associated with this type of disorder,” said the head of the investigation, Andrea Roberts.

According to this study, not just women exposed to high levels of abuse are at risk of having a child with autism, but also women victims of a moderate violence.

“Women exposed to more severe abuse were 3.5 times more likely to have a child with this disorder than women who did not experience abuse,” suggests Roberts.

Andrea Roberts explains that these women are more likely to have inflammations in their immune system. “The mechanism of response to stress from the immune system is much more sensitive than someone who did not experience these things. If you look at the blood, you see the stress hormones to fluctuate much more”, she added.