The effect of gestational age on symptom severity in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Kids with ASD born too early or too late show slightly higher parent-rated social-communication symptoms than those born at term.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Khan et al. (2012) asked parents to rate autism symptoms in their children.
The team compared kids born early, on time, and late.
All children already had an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.
What they found
Preterm and post-term children scored slightly higher on parent reports of social-communication problems.
The increase was small but consistent across the group.
How this fits with other research
Atladóttir et al. (2016) followed up and saw the same link, but the extra risk has shrunk since the 1980s.
Hwang et al. (2013) found the same pattern in Taiwan, using autism prevalence instead of parent ratings.
Talmi et al. (2020) also saw higher odds of ASD for babies born before 39 weeks, backing up the small effect size.
Why it matters
When you read a history of preterm birth in a file, expect slightly more intense social-communication symptoms.
The effect is modest, so do not over-adjust goals.
Use the info to fine-tune parent education and stay alert for subtle social gaps that extra practice can help.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Between 2006 and 2010, two research-validated instruments, Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) and Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) were filled out online by 4,188 mothers of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children, aged 4-21, as part of voluntary parental participation in a large web-based registry. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analysis (adjusted for child's sex, ability to verbalize, categorical IQ score, and fetal growth rate) demonstrated significantly higher SCQ and SRS scores for ASD children of both preterm (<37 weeks) and post-term (>42 weeks) gestational age (GA) compared to ASD children of normal GA, thus indicating that both preterm and post-term children manifest increased ASD symptomatology. Normal GA at birth appears to mitigate the severity of autistic social impairment in ASD children.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2012 · doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1501-4