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higher in full than in half siblings  Genetics: Autism risk
higher in full than in half siblings  Popularity tracker Jessica
Wright 23 March 2012  Common fate: A child has about a 5 percent
chance of developing autism if their half sibling has the
disorder and 10 percent if their full sibling does.  Full
siblings are twice as likely as half siblings to share a
diagnosis of autism, according to a short report published 28
February in Molecular Psychiatry1. The results suggest that
genetic factors play an important role in the risk of developing
autism, the researchers say.  Studies generally compare the rate
of autism recurrence, or concordance, in identical and fraternal
twin pairs to parse out the contribution of genes to the risk of
developing the disorder.  Twin studies are limited, however,
because they are generally small. They are also complicated by
the fact that environmental factors, such as the presence of
maternal antibodies that attac