The association between autism spectrum disorders and congenital anomalies by organ systems in a Finnish national birth cohort.

Sparaci et al. (2015) checked every child born in Finland between 1987 and 2007.

They used national registries to count who later got an ASD or ASD-plus-ID diagnosis.

Then they looked back at birth records to see who had eye, brain, face, heart, or other birth defects.

Kids with ASD were twice as likely to have eye, brain, or skull anomalies recorded at birth.

The link was strongest for children who also had intellectual disability.

The pattern points to trouble in the first three months of pregnancy when these body parts form.

Pan et al. (2021) pooled 39 studies and saw the same CNS signal Laura found, plus epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

Balaum et al. (2026) moved the lens forward: babies whose head size stayed in the top or bottom 5 % all year had 6- to 9-fold ASD odds.

Stewart et al. (2018) seems to disagree—they saw no steady link between fetal head size and later traits. The gap is method: E looked at single ultrasound snapshots, Laura and Rewaa used full growth curves or visible anomalies.

Perales-Marín et al. (2021) widened the window, showing each ASD subgroup carries its own prenatal risk fingerprint, not just birth defects.

When you see eye, brain, or facial differences in an infant, flag for developmental watch. Pair this with routine head-circumference tracking at every well-baby visit. Early alerts buy time for quicker referral, earlier screening, and faster start of ABA if needed.