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Autism - Psoriasis Link Letter to Congress
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Text of Letter Sent to Every Member of Congress about New Psoriasis-Autism Research
February 8, 2005
To: Members of the House and Senate
Dear Member of Congress:
A new study in the February issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found a troubling association between a mother’s psoriasis and her children’s autism. The study, which reviewed more than 88,000 children born between 1995 and 1999, found that of the 44 autoimmune diseases monitored, only one immune disorder present in the mother, psoriasis, was “significantly associated” with an autism spectrum disorder. We urgently request your assistance in securing federal research to help understand this threat.
There are roughly 3 million women of child-bearing age with psoriasis across America, so this danger is significant. One key question is whether it is the psoriasis, or the psoriasis treatments, which may be causing this increase in autism among our children. We urge you to support emergency research to examine several important follow-up issues, including:
• Can these finding be replicated by other researchers?
• Which psoriasis treatments have been used by the mothers whose children have autism? Are certain psoriasis treatments associated with this finding?
• Does psoriasis severity play a role in this; i.e., do women with mild psoriasis have the same rate of children with autism as mothers with severe psoriasis?
• Do fathers with psoriasis produce a higher rate of children with autism than fathers without psoriasis?
While funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is up 148% over the last decade, psoriasis research funding at NIH’s skin institute (NIAMS) has actually been cut by 13%. Today, the federal government spends just $5 million annually, or 77 cents per patient, researching psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
I look forward to working with you to address this important issue.
Very truly yours,
/s/
Michael D. Paranzino
President
Psoriasis Cure Now!
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