Marlene Lauritsen

Publications (3)5.79 Total impact

• Article: Validity of childhood autism in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register: findings from a cohort sample born 1990-1999.

  Marlene B Lauritsen, Meta Jørgensen, Kreesten M Madsen, Sanne Lemcke, Susanne Toft, Jakob Grove, Diana E Schendel, Poul Thorsen
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  ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of the diagnosis of childhood autism in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register (DPCR) by reviewing medical records from 499 of 504 total children with childhood autism born 1990-1999. Based on review of abstracted behaviors recorded in case records from child psychiatric hospitals, case status determination was performed using a standardized coding scheme. In 499 children diagnosed with childhood autism in the DPCR, the diagnosis could be confirmed in 469 children (94%). Of the 30 non-confirmed cases, five were classified by the reviewers as non-autistic cases and the remaining 25 cases were either classified with another ASD diagnosis or the specific diagnosis was not possible to determine.
  Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 10/2009; 40(2):139-48. · 3.06 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Henriette N Buttenschon

  Article: A population-based association study of glutamate decarboxylase 1 as a candidate gene for autism.

  Henriette Nørmølle Buttenschøn, Marlene Briciet Lauritsen, Agata El Daoud, Mads Hollegaard, Meta Jorgensen, Kristine Tvedegaard, David Hougaard, Anders Børglum, Poul Thorsen, Ole Mors
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  ABSTRACT: Linkage studies, genome-wide scans and screening of possible candidate genes suggest that chromosome 2q31 may harbour one or more susceptibility genes for autism. The glutamate decarboxylase gene 1 (GAD1) located within chromosome 2q31 encodes the enzyme, GAD67, catalyzing the production of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) from glutamate. Numerous independent findings have suggested the GABAergic system to be involved in autism. The present study investigates a Danish population-based, case-control sample of 444 subjects with childhood autism and 444 controls. Nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) comprising the GAD1 gene and the microsatellite marker D2S2381 were examined for association with autism. We found no association between childhood autism and any single marker or 2-5 marker haplotypes. However, a rare nine-marker haplotype was associated with childhood autism. We cannot exclude neither GAD1 as a susceptibility gene nor the possibility of another susceptibility gene for autism to be located on chromosome 2q31.
  Acta Neurovegetativa 02/2009; 116(3):381-8. · 2.73 Impact Factor
• Article: Investigation of two variants in the DOPA decarboxylase gene in patients with autism.

  Marlene Lauritsen, Anders Børglum, Catalina Betancur, Anne Philippe, Torben Kruse, Marion Leboyer, Henrik Ewald
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  ABSTRACT: Though genetic risk factors are important for the development of autism, no specific risk alleles have yet been identified. DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is involved in both the catecholaminergic and serotonergic pathways and may be considered a functional candidate gene for autism. The present study is the first to test if two new variants of possible functional significance in the DDC gene increase the susceptibility to autism. A total of 90 parent-offspring trios recruited in Denmark and France were investigated using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT). We found no evidence of linkage disequilibrium between autism and either of the two polymorphisms. Nor did we find linkage disequilibrium between autism and haplotypes of the two variants using a multiallelic TDT. These findings suggest that the DDC gene is unlikely to play a major role in the development of autism in our data set.