Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Pediatrics (OHSU, Portland, Oregon) is seeking roughly 50-100 volunteer families to participate in a vitamin D study. The goal of the study is to find out whether giving Vitamin D to the pregnant mother, who already has had at least one previous child with autism, can prevent the recurrence of autism in the newborn sibling. Vitamin D will be provided free of charge. Baseline blood tests will be obtained and will be repeated in about 2 months. The blood tests will be paid for by the grant at no charge to the family. The study will include screening tests when the baby is 18 months of age and further evaluations at 3 years of age will be performed to determine if the child has developed autism or not.
Families may participate in the study from a distance. That is, to participate, families do not have to live in the Portland, Oregon, USA area. We have families who are participating from other countries. It would be helpful if they could read English or had someone who could interpret English for them.
Preliminary findings are that babies are delivering on time, the babies’ weights are healthy (not premature), and so far, there are no complications. It is too early to say whether these children will develop autism or not, but the results so far are promising.