The well-known scientific journal the New England Journal of Medicine published important research results indicating that certain changes detectable in the fetal brain tissue before birth may predict the likelihood of a child developing autism in early years.

The study’s findings add a new dimension to what is currently known about autism and its spectrum, offering hope for more information that can be relied upon for early diagnosis and thus possible treatment.

Autism spectrum disorder is considered one of the most mysterious developmental disorders, attracting significant medical and scientific interest due to unclear causes and varying symptoms among children.

For decades, research has focused on genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to autism’s emergence, yet the exact moment the disorder begins forming in the brain remained unclear.

Recent studies suggest that the roots of autism may trace back to very early stages of brain development, i.e., before the child is born, opening the door to a new revolution in understanding the disorder and possibly reaching early diagnostic methods that allow intervention before the usual behavioral symptoms appear in the first years of life.