A Possible Link?

One of the great advantages of using tracking software or services with a blog or other website is the kind of information one can glean from it. For example, I use SiteMeter and I can check it any time of the day or night to see where visitors hail from or the referring url. Earlier today I noticed that a visitor from England came to The Rambling Taoist as the result of a search on Google with the search terms of "klinefelter and asperger".

I followed the link and discovered a recent study published this past March that suggests there may be a link between these two syndromes. Because I have both, this is a very interesting potential development!

The high levels of autism traits in XXY men suggest that Klinefelter syndrome may be associated with an increased genetic vulnerability for autistic features. Interestingly, our finding of high rates of autistic traits across all dimensions of the autism phenotype suggest that vulnerability for autistic features in Klinefelter syndrome may not be restricted to impairments in social behavior and communication, but may extend to other aspects of the phenotype as well. Although this observation suggests that XXY men may display the specific combination of various individual traits that are all part of the autism phenotype, some of the traits and symptoms of autism are not specific for the autism phenotype, but may also be seen in individuals with other psychiatric disorders. Therefore, it is possible that men with Klinefelter may not only have an increased vulnerability for autism, but also for other psychiatric disorders.

In addition, I've read before -- though I don't have the citations offhand -- that there are some indications that those with Klinefelter's have a greater propensity for auto-immune disorders. So, the underlying root cause of my fibromyalgia and Asperger's Syndrome may be the abnormaility in my 26th chromosone.