A premature birth can change the start to life. Some children only receive a diagnosis from the autism spectrum years later. Yet the first years of life are particularly important for encouragement and support. A new European research project is therefore looking for ways to detect autism earlier.
Prof. Mareike Albert and her team at the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU Dresden are part of the international MICRO-NEST project. Together with researchers from Europe and Australia, they are looking for biological early warning signs of autism spectrum disorders. In other words, signs in the body that could become visible long before a diagnosis. The EU funding program Horizon Europe is providing six million euros for this purpose.
Autism spectrum disorders affect how people perceive their environment and communicate with others. Some of those affected are particularly sensitive to sounds, light or touch. Others have difficulty understanding social signals. The extent to which autism affects everyday life varies greatly from person to person. Premature babies belong to the risk groups. Children born before the 37th week of pregnancy are around three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than children born on their due date.
