TIL autism has been linked to environmental factors like metabolic syndrome during the first trimester of pregnancy, air pollution, and pesticide exposure. Some

TIL autism has been linked to environmental factors like metabolic syndrome during the first trimester of pregnancy, air pollution, and pesticide exposure. Some of these frequently co-occur with specific gene mutations. [1][2] There's a good argument that everyone has more exposure to everything on that list nowadays. Increased diagnoses would then make a lot of sense. Teasing out the specifics of how much each of these contribute and separating that out from possible confounders like greater screening and others does seem like a tough study to design. [1] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/environmental-autism#environmental-factors-influencing-autism https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/environmental-auti... [2] https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/autism https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/conditions/autism