Scientists are working on a urine test for autism.
Experts from Arizona State University and ESPA Research in Sunderland are working together on the test.
Dr Paul Whiteley said a urine test for autism would help tackle the huge assessment waiting list
ESPA director Dr Paul Whiteley said the test would help to tackle the huge number of people waiting for an autism assessment.
He said that, as of December 2024, 212,000 people were waiting for an assessment in England alone.
Bacteria and yeasts ‘have important role’
Whiteley said years of research suggests a “suite of urinary compounds” found in autistic people could underpin the test.
He said the theory is based on the idea that the trillions of bacteria and yeasts that colonise the human gut “have an important role to play in many instances of autism”.
Whiteley said analysing urine for the metabolites produced by the bacteria and yeasts “provides a snapshot of how such organisms can and do affect development, behaviour and psychology”.
Restoring gut health
Professor James Adams, of Arizona State University, is involved in looking at how restoring gut health can improve the symptoms of autism.
Adams believes transplanting faecal microbiota, or stools, can produce “major improvements” in autism and gut health.
Previous research efforts have pointed to the possibility of using urine to develop biomarker tests for autism.
Test ‘would be an improvement’
Biomedical charity Thinking Autism said any test based on a biomarker would be better than the current diagnosis. This relies on “box ticking of observed or reported surface symptoms”.
The test could also “extend the knowledge base” on the role played by the gut in autism and lead to new treatments, said the charity.
In 2010, researchers at Imperial College London and the University of South Australia suggested autistic children have a different chemical fingerprint in their urine.
And in 2018 scientists at the University of Warwick published research detailing their efforts to develop blood and urine tests for autism.
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Published: 4 March 2025
