ArticleScientific reports2024
An ecological study shows increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in children living in a heavily polluted area.
Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed.
- CRISPR/Cas9-Based therapeutics as a promising strategy for management of Alzheimer's disease: progress and prospects.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2025Review
- Epidemiological trends in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in Kazakhstan (2016-2022): a regional and national perspective.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Harnessing Virtual Reality: Improving Social Skills in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
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Abstract
The burden of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is increasing worldwide with genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors being possibly responsible for the observed epidemiological figures. In the setting of environmental exposure, the city of Taranto, in Southern Italy, represents an interesting case study as it hosts well inside the city one of the biggest steel plants in Europe. This is a cross-sectional ecological study carried out in the year 2020 in the province of Taranto designed to estimate the burden of ASD in the municipalities of Taranto and Statte, classified as high environmental risk areas (Contaminated Site of National Interest-SIN), compared to the other 27 municipalities of the same province. Differences have been evaluated using the Chi Square Test. Children aged 6-11 years identified in SIN municipalities had a statistically significant higher prevalence of ASD than children of other municipalities (9.58 vs. 6.66/1000 respectively, p = 0.002). No statistically significant difference was observed for the 12-18 years group (3.41 vs. 2.54/1000, p = 0.12). The findings observed in this study are suggestive of the association between urban residential proximity to industrial facilities emitting air pollutants and higher ASD prevalence.
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