Autism and parents’ education New data from the developing world

Objectives: To investigate the link between autismdisorders and engineering training of parents.Methods: All Autistic-Pervasive DevelopmentalDisorders (PDD) children that were diagnosed on the bases of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual forMental Disorders (DSM-IV), and met the required criteria for autism, over a defined period (March 2006to June 2007) were included. We then took all non-PDD developmental disorders cases seen during the same time frame as the autistic children as a control;these included speech delay, mental retardation, and Down’s syndrome. Our data covered demographic data,parents and grand parents’ education, and profession.Parents’ education/professions were classified into 2 groups only, 1-engineering or mathematician; and2-humanities, neither engineering nor math. The children were divided into 2 groups, autism (57 cases),and developmental disorders (40 cases).Results: Regarding the main question of this study(hypothesized engineering link), the data showed some differences between the 2 groups (x²=2.503,degrees of freedom [df ]=1; p=0.093), but not ofmajor significance. There was no significant difference(x²=0.370; df=2; p=0.831) between the 2 groups onthe variable of consanguinity.Conclusion: We have found that the Saudi Arabiansample, though relatively small, has considerablesimilarities with both the UK and USA data. There isa possibility of an association between autism and theengineering/math training of fathers. The implicationis briefly discussed.