Prenatal, perinatal and neonatal risk factors of Autism Spectrum Disorder: a comprehensive epidemiological assessment from India.
In India, babies who faced pregnancy infections, labor trouble, or neonatal jaundice carry modestly higher odds of later autism diagnosis.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Poornima and colleagues looked at birth records of children later diagnosed with autism in India. They compared each child with a matched control who did not have autism.
The team counted how often problems like infections during pregnancy, fetal distress, or neonatal jaundice showed up in each group.
What they found
Eight birth events were more common in the autism group. The strongest links were advanced mom age, fetal distress, infections, labor trouble, early birth, jaundice, slow first cry, and birth asphyxia.
Each factor raised the odds of later autism by about one-and-a-half to one-and-three-quarters times.
How this fits with other research
Robinson et al. (2011) pooled 13 studies and saw the same jaundice signal, but only in term babies. The Indian data now add weight to that finding.
Lee et al. (2022) used the same style of study in Taiwan and also found jaundice plus three extra risks. Together the papers show the pattern holds across Asian populations.
Gillberg et al. (1983) first noticed more birth problems in autistic kids forty years ago. Mamidala et al. (2013) repeat the message with new Indian data, giving the old warning fresh legs.
Why it matters
When you review a child's history, flag any of the eight risks. Share the list with pediatricians so they watch milestones closer. You cannot change the past, but early monitoring means quicker screening, earlier ABA start, and better outcomes for families.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is increasing across the globe and no data is available from India regarding the risk factors of ASD. In this regard a questionnaire based epidemiological assessment was carried out on prenatal, perinatal and neonatal risk factors of ASD across 8 cities in India. A retrospective cohort of 942 children was enrolled for the study. 471 children with ASD, under age of 10, were analyzed for pre-, peri-, and neonatal factors and were compared with the observations from equal number of controls. The quality control of the questionnaire and data collection was done thoroughly and the observations were computed statistically. A total of 25 factors were evaluated by unadjusted and adjusted analysis in this study. Among the prenatal factors considered, advanced maternal age, fetal distress and gestational respiratory infections were found to be associated with ASD and had an odds ratio of 1.8. Evaluation of perinatal and neonatal risk factors showed labor complications, pre-term birth, neonatal jaundice, delayed birth cry and birth asphyxia to be associated with ASD with an odds ratio greater than 1.5. This important study, first of its kind in Indian population gives a firsthand account of the relation of pre-, peri- and neonatal risk factors on ASD from an ethnically and socially diverse country like India, the impact of which was unknown earlier. This advocates additional focused investigations on physiological and genetic changes contributed by these risk factor inducing environments.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.06.019