![\"Cars](\"https:\/\/autism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/exhaust-700x441.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>Melanie Glock<\/a><\/span><\/span>2026-03-09T15:09:40-05:00<\/span>Editorial: What we breathe matters – Rethinking air pollution and autism<\/a><\/h4>
Melanie Glock<\/a><\/span><\/span>2026-03-09T15:09:40-05:00<\/span>March 9th, 2026<\/span>|<\/span>News<\/a>, Research<\/a>|<\/span><\/p>
For nearly sixty years, the Autism Research Institute (ARI) has tried to understand autism by looking beyond surface behaviors and asking deeper biological questions. From the beginning, Bernard Rimland challenged the dominant<\/p><\/div><\/article>
![\"different](\"https:\/\/autism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Untitled-design-48-700x441.jpg\")
<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>Melanie Glock<\/a><\/span><\/span>2025-11-24T14:39:51-05:00<\/span>Editorial: Invisible threats – the role of environmental toxins in autism<\/a><\/h4>
Melanie Glock<\/a><\/span><\/span>2025-11-24T14:39:51-05:00<\/span>November 21st, 2025<\/span>|<\/span>Health<\/a>, News<\/a>, Research<\/a>, Uncategorized<\/a>|<\/span><\/p>
As our knowledge about autism continues to evolve, so does our understanding of its root causes. For many years, professionals blamed \u201crefrigerator parents\u201d and prescribed psychoanalytic therapy. Once the psychogenic theory was<\/p><\/div><\/article>
<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>
autismAdmin<\/a><\/span><\/span>2026-03-26T15:13:47-05:00<\/span>ARI’s 2025 Impact<\/a><\/h4>
autismAdmin<\/a><\/span><\/span>2026-03-26T15:13:47-05:00<\/span>November 17th, 2025<\/span>|<\/span>News<\/a>|<\/span><\/p>
Advocating for Independent Research and Education For nearly six decades, ARI has funded groundbreaking research, expanded educational initiatives, and brought clinicians and scientists together worldwide. Yet researchers and clinicians continue to face unprecedented<\/p><\/div><\/article><\/section><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[8326,9679,9682,9681,72,9680],"class_list":["post-15160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-arri","tag-cancer","tag-medications","tag-pharmaceuticals","tag-research","tag-women"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSome antipsychotic drugs may hike breast cancer risk - Autism Research Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some antipsychotic drugs may hike breast cancer risk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Autism Research Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/autismresearchinstitute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-06T16:59:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-28T22:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/autism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/meds-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melanie Glock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ariConference\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ariConference\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Melanie Glock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Melanie Glock\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ad26e988cbfed68201ec1c125f98d660\"},\"headline\":\"Some antipsychotic drugs may hike breast cancer risk\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-06T16:59:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-28T22:35:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/\"},\"wordCount\":1637,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/meds-scaled.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"ARRI\",\"cancer\",\"medications\",\"pharmaceuticals\",\"research\",\"women\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/autism.org\/some-antipsychotic-drugs-may-hike-breast-cancer-risk\/\",\"name\":\"Some antipsychotic drugs may hike breast cancer risk - 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Antipsychotic medications are frequently prescribed for women with autism, but new research suggests that some of these drugs may significantly increase a woman\u2019s risk for breast cancer.<\/p>\n
Noting that a number of antipsychotic drugs increase levels of the hormone prolactin\u2014which can lead to menstrual cycle irregularities, abnormal breast milk production, and abnormal breast tissue growth\u2014 Tahir Rahman and colleagues investigated the possibility that these drugs might affect women\u2019s risk for breast cancer as well. The researchers used data collected from 2012 through 2016 on 540,737 women between the ages of 18 and 64 who took antipsychotics. They investigated three categories of antipsychotic medications:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Drugs associated with high prolactin levels, such as haloperidol, paliperidone, and risperidone.<\/li>\n
- Drugs with \u201cmid-range\u201d effects on prolactin, including iloperidone, lurasidone, and olanzapine.<\/li>\n
- Drugs with a smaller effect on prolactin levels, such as aripiprazole, asenapine, brexpiprazole, cariprazine, clozapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>
![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/autism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/meds-scaled.jpeg\" "\\"Woman")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>The researchers compared the effects of all three categories of antipsychotic drugs to the effects of anticonvulsant drugs and lithium, which also are often prescribed to treat psychiatric disorders. When compared with these types of drugs, the relative risk of breast cancer was 62% higher for women who took antipsychotic drugs associated with high levels of prolactin and 54% higher for those taking antipsychotic drugs with \u201cmid-range\u201d effects. Antipsychotics that had little effect on prolactin were not associated with any increase in breast cancer risk.<\/p>\n
Rahman says, \u201cOur study confirms findings from a smaller European study that advised women and their doctors to first try drugs that don\u2019t affect prolactin levels. We agree with that advice and believe psychiatrists should start to monitor prolactin levels in their patients taking antipsychotics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor\u2019s note: Since antipsychotics can cause enlargement of the breast tissue in men (gynecomastia), it is possible that these drugs may also increase males\u2019 risk for breast cancer. This issue needs to be examined.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cRisk of breast cancer with prolactin elevat ing antipsychotic drugs: An observational study of US women (ages 18-64 years),\u201d Tahir Rahman, John M. Sahrmann, Margaret A. Olsen, Katelin B. Nickel, J. Phillip Miller, Cynthia Ma, and Richard A. Grucza, Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology<\/em>, December 3, 2021 (online). Address: Tahir Rahman, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S Euclid Ave, Campus Box 8134, St. Louis, MO 63110, trahman@wustl.edu.<\/p>\n
\u2014and\u2014<\/p>\n
\u201cAntipsychotic drugs may increase risk of breast cancer,\u201d news release, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, December 9, 2021<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared in Autism Research Review International, <\/em><\/a>Vol. 36, No. 1, 2022<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>
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