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. 2020 Sep:142:109797.
doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2020.109797. Epub 2020 May 1.

COVID-19 and autism

Gary Steinman  1
Affiliations

COVID-19 and autism

Gary Steinman. Med Hypotheses. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

The current pandemic of Covid-19 has created a paradigm for possibly gaining greater insight in two conditions:Studies since the beginning of this century have supported the view that IGF-1 deficiency in the neonate defines the basis of autism. As a result, it appears that interleukin-6 in corona virus-based infections causes reduced defenses because of suppressed IGF-1, especially in older patients. This may also portend an increase of autism in the offspring of gravidas currently affected severely by Covid-19.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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