Link between premature birth and autism
Wednesday, April 2, 2008 - 12:39
In a new study led by Catherine Limperopoulos, researcher at McGill Unversity and Children’s Hospital in Boston, 25% of children born very prematurely showed a high prevalence of autistic behaviour in early screening. This may suggest that premature babies might have higher risk of developing the condition than originally thought.
The study published in the April issue of Pediatrics was done on 91 children who were born at least 10 weeks prematurely. A follow up will be done to determine how many of these children will in fact be diagnosed with autism.