Eric Fombonne - Research

Research

His research focuses on epidemiological investigations of childhood mental illness and related risk factors, with a particular focus on the epidemiology of autism. He conducted the first population based survey of child psychiatric disorders among school aged children in France. In the UK, he conducted research on childhood depression and its long term outcomes. In France and in the UK, and later in Canada, he performed several surveys of autism in childhood populations. He and his colleagues were credited with demonstrating that there is no epidemiological evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine as well as with mercury-containing vaccines with autism, as postulated by other researchers including Andrew Wakefield. Fombonne was subsequently involved as a key scientific expert witness in several trials in US courts and class actions. He was influential in explicating the lack of evidence linking thimerosal in vaccines, or specific vaccine types such as MMR, and the risk of autism in children. He testified on behalf of the US DHSS and the US Department of Justice in well publicized trials in front of the vaccine Compensation Injury Court in Washington DC between 2006 and 2208.

He has conducted several epidemiological studies of child and adolescent psychopathology, looking at overall mental health, depression, eating and sunstance use disorders. An early focus of his work was on secular trends in the incidence of youth mental health disorders, and factors that might cause these changes over time. One of the major studies conducted by Fombonne examined depression and suicidal behaviors, which linked alcohol abuse to increased suicidal tendencies in boys, using data on 6,000 subjects. He has also been involved in long-term outcome studies of child and adolescent depression.

At McGill University, Fombonne has consolidated the Autism Spectrum Disorder program at the Montreal Children's Hospital since his appointment there in 2001. He currently heads an autism research program directed at evaluating environmental risk factors, such as vaccines and environmental neurotoxicants, and investigating genetic risks associated with the heritability of autism. He has also been involved in several molecular genetic studies of autism, and in outcome studies of autism spectrum disorders.

Does this mean there is an epidemic of PDD? Not at all. We believe the high rates we are seeing are the result of a combination of factors. With improved recognition of the symptoms, diagnosis of PDD is now being made more frequently and at an earlier age, thus increasing the number of children being diagnosed. More rigorous methods used in recent surveys have also improved our ability to find cases of PDD. The lower rates found in two of the most recent studies, for instance, most certainly reflect less sensitive case finding approaches.

Fombonne recently conducted a metanalysis of available epidemiological evidence of the prevalence of autism. His review concluded that the prevalence rate for autism is 25/10,000 and the rate of all pervasive developmental disorders around 90/10,000. However, he also noted several more recent studies indicating a much higher prevalence rate than this with a broader inclusion basis. He attributes the apparent rise in autism cases to wider recognition of the condition, and argues that claims of an 'autism epidemic' are unfounded unless proven otherwise. In 2001, he told the BBC "That rates in recent surveys are substantially higher than 30 years ago merely reflects the adoption of a much broader concept of autism, a recognition of autism among normally intelligent subjects and an improved identification of persons with autism." However, he also states that a real change in the incidence of autism in human populations may also have contributed to the upward trends and that environmental risk factors that may influence these changes should be examined.