Oral Contraceptives and AutismOver the last several months, I have published a series of articles exploring the potential connection between the use of oral contraceptives and the increased prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (here, here, here, here, and here). It is my hypothesis that the synthetic hormones in oral contraceptives, which were created to imitate […]
While researching my hypothesis linking oral contraceptive use to the development of autism in children, I wondered about why so many women are still using a drug that has dangerous side-effect and could cause neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring. The simple answer seems to be lack of accurate medical information. Not only do individual women lack […]
Recently, I read an article about the link between maternal antidepressant use and the development of autism in children [1]. This new study published in JAMA Pediatrics provides epidemiological evidence that antidepressant use adversely affects fetal brain development in children of the mothers using antidepressants. The article weighs in on a topic that has had […]
In a recently published article and subsequent post to Hormones Matters, I proposed that a link exists between oral contraceptive use and the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders in children. In that post, I point out that widespread oral contraceptive use is a risk factor that has been largely overlooked in the biomedical literature. Because […]
It is estimated that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with ASD in the United States. Increasing awareness and the rapidly growing number of cases of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have caused national alarm, compelling scientists to search for clues about the causes and contributing factors of ASDs. Many explanations for the rise in prevalence […]