Waterhouse Lynn
Global Studies Programs, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ 08628, USA.
Neuropsychol Rev. 2008 Dec;18(4):273-86. doi: 10.1007/s11065-008-9074-x. Epub 2008 Nov 18.
This selective review examines the lack of an explanation for the sharply increasing prevalence of autism, and the lack of any synthesis of the proliferating theories of autism. The most controversial and most widely disseminated notion for increasing prevalence is the measles-mumps-rubella/thimerosal vaccine theory. Less controversial causes that have been proposed include changes in autism diagnostic criteria, increasing services for autism, and growing awareness of the disorder. Regardless of its causes, the increasing prevalence of autism has put pressure on the field of autism research to generate productive and predictive theories of autism. However, the heterogeneity of brain deficits, impaired behaviors, and genetic variants in autism have challenged researchers and theorists, and despite 45 years of research, no standard causal synthesis has emerged. Research going forward should assume that autism is an aggregation of myriad independent disorders of impaired sociality, social cognition, communication, and motor and cognitive skills.
这篇选择性综述探讨了自闭症患病率急剧上升却缺乏解释的情况，以及众多自闭症理论未能进行综合的问题。关于患病率上升，最具争议且传播最广的观点是麻疹-腮腺炎-风疹疫苗/硫柳汞疫苗理论。已提出的争议较小的病因包括自闭症诊断标准的变化、针对自闭症的服务增加以及对该病症认识的提高。无论病因如何，自闭症患病率的上升给自闭症研究领域带来了压力，促使其产生关于自闭症的有效且具有预测性的理论。然而，自闭症患者大脑缺陷、行为受损及基因变异的异质性给研究人员和理论家带来了挑战，尽管经过45年的研究，仍未形成标准的因果综合理论。未来的研究应假定自闭症是社交、社会认知、沟通以及运动和认知技能受损的无数独立病症的集合。
