New York: Toddlers who watch too much television may suffer from autism, a neurological disorder that affects the functioning of the brain, says a new study.
Autism impacts development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills.
It is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life.
Over the past few decades, there's been an increase in the number of children diagnosed with this disorder.
Michael Waldman and colleagues at Cornell University looked into the statistics compiled by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, on when families watch TV, and on how much TV they watch, reported the online edition of health Magazine WebMD.
These statistics show that toddlers watch more television when it's raining outside than when it isn't raining, the researchers said.
Waldman and colleagues then looked at county-by-county autism rates in California, Oregon, and Washington.
All three states have huge regional variations in annual rainfall. Sure enough, Waldman found that autism rates tended to be higher in the rainiest counties.
If it rains more, autism goes up. If it rains less, autism goes down," Waldman says.
"That is a fine theory by itself, but still one can't be sure it is TV and not some other indoor toxin that is to blame."
So the researchers did a second test. They looked at the percentage of houses that subscribed to cable television in California and Pennsylvania.
Cable television, Waldman reasoned, was linked not only to more TV watching, but also to the availability of more programmes for children.
Sure enough, they found that areas with the most cable TV subscribers had the most autistic children.
"Our view is that there is no obvious thing correlated with both rain and cable TV access except television viewing," Waldman says.
The researchers recommend that parents follow the American Academy of Paediatrician's recommendation of no TV before age two, and no more than an hour or two of TV a day for older children.
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