Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND), Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Q2:07, 17176 Stockholm, Sweden.
Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013 Jun;22(6):341-8. doi: 10.1007/s00787-012-0368-4. Epub 2013 Jan 10.
Currently, autism cannot be reliably diagnosed before the age of 2 years, which is why longitudinal studies of high-risk populations provide the potential to generate unique knowledge about the development of autism during infancy and toddlerhood prior to symptom onset. Early autism research is an evolving field in child psychiatric science. Key objectives are fine mapping of neurodevelopmental trajectories and identifying biomarkers to improve risk assessment, diagnosis and treatment. ESSEA (Enhancing the Scientific Study of Early Autism) is a COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action striving to create a European collaboration to enhance the progress of the discovery and treatment of the earliest signs of autism, and to establish European practice guidelines on early identification and intervention by bringing together European expertise from cognitive neuroscience and clinical sciences. The objective of this article is to clarify the state of current European research on at-risk autism research, and to support the understanding of different contexts in which the research is being conducted. We present ESSEA survey data on ongoing European high-risk ASD studies, as well as perceived challenges and opportunities in this field of research. We conclude that although high-risk autism research in Europe faces several challenges, the existence of several key factors (e.g., new and/or large-scale autism grants, availability of new technologies, and involvement of experienced research groups) lead us to expect substantial scientific and clinical developments in Europe in this field during the next few years.
目前，自闭症在 2 岁之前无法可靠诊断，这就是为什么对高风险人群进行纵向研究有潜力在症状出现之前产生关于自闭症在婴儿期和幼儿期发展的独特知识。早期自闭症研究是儿童精神病学科学中一个不断发展的领域。主要目标是精细描绘神经发育轨迹，并确定生物标志物以改善风险评估、诊断和治疗。ESSEA（增强自闭症早期研究的科学研究）是一个 COST（欧洲科学技术合作组织）行动，旨在通过汇集认知神经科学和临床科学方面的欧洲专业知识，创建一个欧洲合作关系，以增强自闭症最早迹象的发现和治疗的进展，并建立关于早期识别和干预的欧洲实践指南。本文的目的是阐明当前欧洲高风险自闭症研究的研究状况，并支持对正在进行的研究所处不同背景的理解。我们展示了 ESSEA 关于正在进行的欧洲高风险 ASD 研究的调查数据，以及该研究领域面临的挑战和机遇。我们的结论是，尽管欧洲的高风险自闭症研究面临着一些挑战，但存在几个关键因素（例如，新的和/或大规模的自闭症拨款、新技术的可用性以及经验丰富的研究小组的参与）使我们预计在未来几年内，欧洲在该领域将取得重大的科学和临床进展。
