Madison Company Releases Blood Test To Aid In Earlier Autism Detection

A blood test that could help identify autism in children as young as 18 months hit the market this week, released by a Madison-based company.

In the United States, the average child with autism gets diagnosed at 4 years old. Behavioral tests can identify autism 2 years earlier. NeuroPointDX claims their new blood test can help identify autism in children as young as 18 months.

NeuroPointDX CEO Elizabeth Donley says the test draws on a large clinical study conducted with the University of California-Davis MIND Institute and researchers across the country that found 30 percent of children with autism had certain metabolic imbalances.

Donley said their test screens for those irregularities in children with developmental delays.

She said the new blood test means if parents or doctors are concerned about a developmental delay, “There is a test that they can go to, to say, at least for three out of 10 kids currently, there’s definitely an association here with autism in this clinical data. We should refer to a neurodevelopmental specialist for full behavioral and neurological evaluation.”

Donley said the hope is to get children who need treatment into it earlier, because early intervention often means better health outcomes.

Any physician can order the test, but right now around 10 labs across the country are fully trained to administer it. It’s one of four autism screening tools the company is developing.

But at $1,000 per test, at least one University of Wisconsin autism researcher says there are cheaper ways to screen early.