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Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Pregnancy, delivery, and neonatal complications among autistic children
Insights
Autistic children experienced more prenatal and delivery complications than their siblings. However, no single event fully explains autism, suggesting a complex interplay of factors or an unknown underlying cause.
Area of Science:
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Perinatal Medicine
- Genetics and Epigenetics
Background:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition.
- The etiology of ASD is multifactorial, involving genetic and environmental influences.
- Understanding prenatal and perinatal risk factors is crucial for early identification and intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between prenatal, delivery, and neonatal complications and autism.
- To compare the reproductive histories of autistic children with those of their unaffected siblings.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study involving 145 autistic children and 330 matched unaffected siblings.
- Review of obstetrical records prior to autism diagnosis.
- Analysis of prenatal, delivery, and neonatal complications.
Main Results:
- Autistic children were more likely to be first-born.
- A higher incidence of untoward prenatal and delivery events was observed in the autistic group.
- Increased risk of neonatal complications was noted in autistic children.
- No single complication or cluster of related events could account for a significant number of autism cases.
Conclusions:
- Reproductive complications are more frequent in children with autism.
- The findings suggest a potential link between adverse perinatal events and autism, but do not establish causality.
- Further research is needed to explore potential unknown factors contributing to both autism and reproductive complications.
Abstract:
An investigation of the prenatal, delivery, and neonatal experience of 145 autistic children matched with 330 unaffected siblings revealed that among the propositi there was a preponderance of first-born children. Obstetrical records, which had been made prior to the diagnosis of autism, indicated that autistic children were more likely than their siblings to have experienced at least one untoward event during their mothers' gestations and deliveries. Similarly, the autistic children had an increased risk of neonatal complications. Despite the significant excess of total reproductive complications in the autistic series, there was no single event or a combination of biologically related complications that could reasonably account for any large number of cases of autism. While it is possible that autism may be the product of several diverse deleterious events experienced in utero, during delivery, or in the early neonatal period, our finding could be a chance occurrence or could signal the presence of a unknown factor responsible both for autism and for a variety of reproductive complications.
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