Children with autism, as a group, are genetically more similar to one another than a group of their unaffected siblings, a study has revealed.

The study highlights the notion that people with autism share genes which are likely to boost the risk of developing the condition.

The study, reported by Spectrum News, suggests that inherited genes play a “significant” role in autism risk.

Around 2,591 children with autism and 2,113 unaffected siblings were studied. Overall, children with autism share more variants with one another than with their siblings.

The sibling group, on the other hand, do not share more variants with one another than they do with children who autism.

This shows that shares variants in the autism group contribute to autism risk, said the researchers.

David Goldstein, director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Columbia University in New York, said: “In science, it’s nice to have completely independent ways of showing things.

“This is a neat, clever, independent way of implicating inherited variation.”