This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am and is filed under Autism Awareness, Autism Information, Autism News, Parent Support. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls
, 06 03rd, 2008
Autism research from the US suggests that compared to other developmental disabilities, low birthweight and premature birth was linked to a higher risk of autism, especially for girls.
The study had two goals. The first was to find out how frequently autism prevailed compared to that of other developmental disabilities in low birthweight and preterm babies, and the second was to establish the specific risks involved.
For the first goal, the researchers counted all children born in Atlanta between 1981 and 1993 who survived until the age of three. These were located from vital records.
From this group they then identified those that were still living in Atlanta at age between 3 and 10, and who had developmental disabilities: autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, hearing loss, or vision impairment. They used another set of records for this, the Metropolitan Atlanta Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program.
For the second goal, the researchers looked at records from the first goal and created a “nested case-control sample”, with those children identified as having autism being the “cases”, and those who were not identified as having a developmental disability (or in receipt of special education) as the “controls”. (It is a nested sample because these groups are subgroups of the overall cohort). Over 550 case-control pairs were created.
The results showed that:
• Compared to other developmental disabilities, the prevalence of autism in preterm or low birthweight children was significantly lower.
• Birthweight below 5.5 lbs and birth at less than 33 weeks gestation was linked to a twofold increase in autism risk.
• This increased risk of autism was higher in girls and when autism was accompanied by other developmental disabilities.
• For example, there was a significant fourfold risk of autism in low birthweight girls who also had mental retardation, whereas there was no significant increased risk in low birthweight boys for autism alone.
The authors concluded that:
“Gender and autism subgroup differences in birth weight and gestational age, resulting in lower gender ratios with declining birth weight or gestational age across all autism subgroups, might be markers for etiologic heterogeneity in autism.”
“There may be sex differences in genetic factors leading to autism.”
Low birthweight and pre-term birth are already known to be among the biggest risk factors for developmental disabilities.
5 Responses to “Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
June 4th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls | Help With Autism…
I am positive that this site will largely contribute to the better handling and caring for children with developmental disabilities as that of autism and mental retardation. Their wide ranging collection of tips and products for autism will surely help…
June 4th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls | Help With Autism…
I am positive that this site will largely contribute to the better handling and caring for children with developmental disabilities as that of autism and mental retardation. Their wide ranging collection of tips and products for autism will surely help…
June 4th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls | Help With Autism…
I am positive that this site will largely contribute to the better handling and caring for children with developmental disabilities as that of autism and mental retardation. Their wide ranging collection of tips and products for autism will surely help…
June 4th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls | Help With Autism…
I am positive that this site will largely contribute to the better handling and caring for children with developmental disabilities as that of autism and mental retardation. Their wide ranging collection of tips and products for autism will surely help…
June 4th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Autism Risk Higher For Preterm and Low Birthweight Girls | Help With Autism…
I am positive that this site will largely contribute to the better handling and caring for children with developmental disabilities as that of autism and mental retardation. Their wide ranging collection of tips and products for autism will surely help…