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. 1989 May;30(3):405-16.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00254.x.

A twin study of autism in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

S Steffenburg  1 , C Gillberg, L Hellgren, L Andersson, I C Gillberg, G Jakobsson, M Bohman
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A twin study of autism in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

S Steffenburg et al. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1989 May.

Abstract

The Nordic countries were screened for the occurrence of cases of autism with a same-sexed twin under age 25 years. Twenty-one pairs (11 monozygotic and 10 dizygotic) of twins and one set of identical triplets were found and extensively examined. The concordance for autism by pair was 91% in the monoygotic and 0% in the dizygotic pairs. The corresponding concordances for cognitive disorder were 91% and 30%, respectively. In most of the pairs discordant for autism, the autistic twin had more perinatal stress. The results lend support for the notion that autism sometimes has a hereditary component and that perinatal stress is involved in some cases.

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