Qatar’s new technology makes it the leader of autism research in Middle East

A new technology being tested in Qatar will be a step towards improvement in autism as it will help doctors diagnose autism in a patient in minutes instead of months.

Researchers at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) are now testing a new device that contains the ability to detect autism in infants as young as six months old by simply tracking their eye movements.

As Al Jazeera reported, the device has a success rate of around 85% and it identifies eye gaze abnormalities that are linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As per the team leader Dr. Omar El-Agnaf, diagnosing the disease early makes all the difference, “The longer a child with autism goes without help, the harder intervention becomes. Therefore early intervention is the key for autism.”

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As diagnosing ASD in Qatar was not always this straightforward, the doctors believe that results from this new technology will locate the genetic factors that might power autism and prove to be useful in terms of treatment of the disease.

ASD is a set of complex disorders that affect the patient’s brain development. Children that are diagnosed with the disease show symptoms that include problems with communication, social interaction and also restricted repetitive behaviors.

Moreover, Gulf Times wrote, in the first study of its kind in Qatar, scientists discovered that at least one in 100 children in the country suffer from some form of ASD. The figure was previously around three in every 1,000 children.

Also, as per the US Centre for Disease Control, one in 68 children are affected with autism, whereas the World Health Organization estimates a common rate of 1%, with boys being five times more likely than girls to be affected by the disorder, as per Al Jazeera.