Chinese children with autism: A multiple chemical elements profile in erythrocytes.
Red-blood-cell chemical elements give a clear, quantifiable signature for autism in Chinese children.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zhao et al. (2018) compared red-blood-cell levels of 34 chemical elements in Chinese children with autism and typically developing peers.
They used a case-control design and checked whether any element pattern matched autism severity scores.
What they found
Eleven elements showed clear group differences. Five of those tracked with CARS severity scores.
The autistic group had a unique chemical fingerprint you can see in a simple blood draw.
How this fits with other research
Panpan et al. (2025) ran a near-identical study on the same population but measured serum instead of red cells. They also found element differences, giving a conceptual thumbs-up to Jing’s fingerprint idea.
Qureshi et al. (2020) saw the same pattern in toddler urine, showing the signal holds across body fluids and ages.
Older blood studies like Lalli et al. (1995) and Rosenthal et al. (1980) came up empty when they hunted for androgens or thyroid hormones. Those null results make Jing’s positive element findings stand out—chemical elements, not hormones, seem to mark autism.
Why it matters
If a quick blood test can flag autism risk and severity, you could catch kids earlier and start ABA sooner. Watch for future kits that bundle red-cell elements with other cheap biomarkers. Until then, keep an eye on labs offering element panels and share results with pediatricians to speed up referral decisions.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
UNLABELLED: Several lines of evidence suggested that abnormal levels of certain chemical elements may contribute to the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The present work aimed to investigate the multiple chemical elements profile in the erythrocytes of autistic versus typically developing children (TDC) of China. Analyses were carried out to explore the possible association between levels of elements and the risk as well as the severity of ASD. Erythrocyte levels of 11 elements (32%) among 34 detected elements in autistic group were significantly different from those in the TDC group. To our knowledge, this is the first study which compared the levels of rare earth elements in erythrocytes between children with or without ASD. Five elements including Pb, Na, Ca, Sb, and La are associated with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) total score. Also, a series of tendencies were found in this research which was believed to affect auditory response, taste, smell, and touch, as well as fear or nervousness. It can be concluded that Chinese autistic children suffer from multi-chemical element imbalances which involves a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors. The results showed a significant correlation between abnormal levels of several chemical elements and the severity of the autistic syndrome. LAY SUMMARY: It is suggested that abnormal levels of some chemical elements may contribute to the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In this work, the impact of element imbalances on the risk and severity of ASD was investigated, focusing on the analysis of abnormal levels of the multi-chemical elements profile in erythrocytes compared with typically developing children. Furthermore, the results showed a significant correlation between abnormal levels of several chemical elements and the severity of the autistic syndrome. Autism Res 2018, 11: 834-845. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2018 · doi:10.1002/aur.1949