Conceptos actuales sobre la etiología del autismo

Generalized Developmental Disorders (GDD) are characterized by impaired social interaction, difficulties in communication and repetitive behaviors or interests. Their prevalence is 1 in 150 children. The etiology is multifactorial with big genetic influence; is possible to find specific pathologies in some cases. According to the etiology, Autism can be classified as primary or secondary. We performed a bibliographic research, with the key words “autism”, “metabolic diseases” “phenylketonuria and autism”, “autism and etiology”, “autism and inborn errors of metabolism”, “genetic and autism” in the following libraries PubMed, Promedicum and SciELO. We selected articles published from January 2000 to January 2011, related to advances in etiology and metabolic diseases in children under 18. We describe recent advances in the etiology of autism, and found evidence of genetic factors in the primary autism mainly on chromosome 15q11-q13. However there are different conditions with autistic behaviors whose etiology remains unknown.