New brain study suggests autism develops differently in girls than boys

Autism appears to develop differently in girls and boys, so the findings of research conducted mainly with boys might not apply to girls, a new study suggests.

Autism spectrum disorder is four times more common in boys, which may help explain why there’s far less research about autism in girls.

“This new study provides us with a road map for understanding how to better match current and future evidenced-based interventions to underlying brain and genetic profiles, so that we can get the right treatment to the right individual,” said lead investigator Kevin Pelphrey, an autism expert at the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine and Brain Institute.

“This advances our understanding of autism broadly by revealing that there may well be different causes for boys versus girls,” Pelphrey said in a news release.

For the study, the researchers combined brain imaging with genetic investigation to learn more about autism in girls.

Functional MRI was used to examine brain activity during social interactions. It showed that girls with autism use different sections of their brains than girls without autism.

The difference between girls with and without autism was not the same as the difference between boys with and without autism, meaning that brain mechanisms involved in autism vary depending on gender, according to the study authors.

Ultimately, Pelphrey said, the team hopes to use the findings to generate new autism treatment strategies tailored to girls.

The findings were recently published in the journal Brain.