Via the Local:
Swedish researchers want to gain access to a databank of blood tests taken from all babies born in Sweden in order to shed light on an apparent heightened incidence of autism among the country's Somali population.
The researchers at the Autism centre for small children in Stockholm want to see if the samples contained in the so-called PKU register, which is used on newborns to detect a slew of illnesses, can explain the differences in levels of autism between children of Somali and children of Swedish origin.
"We want to look at the vitamin D levels at a very early stage in children who are later diagnosed with autism," Elisabeth Fernell at the Autism centre for small children told the Dagens Nyheter (DN) daily.
The tests will be conducted during the spring and include all of the autistic Somali children currently living in Stockholm, the newspaper reported.
(...)
Somalis living in Sweden have dubbed autism, "The Swedish disease," as it has become an increasingly common occurrence among Somali children that have moved to Sweden.
(source)
