Long-Term Study May Help Explain What Causes Autism

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it's estimated 1 in 44 children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with autism.

For more than 20 years, researchers have conducted a long-term study on autism – involving more than 115,000 children— looking into what causes it, and how it might be prevented.

"There are certainly strong genetic factors that are at play, but it's probably not a single factor," said Dr. Mady Hornig, Columbia University.

Doctor Mady Hornig is one of the study's researchers with Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health.