Neurodevelopmental disorders in children with congenital abdominal wall defects: a national population-based study

One in 4000 Swedish children is born with abdominal wall defect (AWD). Little is known about their neurodevelopmental trajectory and long-term morbidity. The aim was to determine the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children born with omphalocele or gastroschisis.

This was a population-based national cohort study including children born with omphalocele or gastroschisis in Sweden 1997-2016. Individuals with chromosomal abnormality were excluded. Ten age and sex-matched unexposed individuals were randomly selected for every AWD case. Main outcomes were autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Data were collected from the national health registers.

During the study period, 496 children were born with AWD and included in the exposed cohorts. The unexposed cohorts consisted of 4943 children. Neurodevelopmental diagnoses were found in 11 (6.1%) children with omphalocele and 15 (4.8%) children with gastroschisis compared to 63 (3.5%) and 113 (3.6%) in the unexposed cohorts (p = 0.096 and p = 0.275). Children with omphalocele had higher risk of ASD (HR = 3.51, 95% CI 1.59-7.78) than unexposed peers (p = 0.02). There was no significant difference in ADHD incidence.

Children with AWD may have similar risk of ADHD as age- and sex-matched peers. While the omphalocele cohort had a higher incidence of ASD, the overall incidence remained relatively low.

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