Correlations between gestational age, birth weight and motor development in children with autism

Abstract

Objective To explore the motor development and how it is influenced by gestational age and birth weight in children with autism, and provide evidence for the applications of motor development in the early diagnosis of autism. Methods A 1∶1 matched case-control study was conducted between 2012 and 2014.A total of 396 children under 5 years old with autism were enrolled in this study, their counterparts were healthy children 3 month younger/ older and with the same gender and residence.Guardians of participants were investigated using self-designed childhood psychological and behavioral development and related factors questionnaire.EpiData 3.0 software was used to establish the data base and SAS 9.4 software was used for data analysis. Results 396 pairs were enrolled in this study which including 342 pairs of boys(86.3%) and 54 pairs of girls(13.7%), the gender ratio was 6.33∶1; The average month age of case group was (39.44±11.99) months and (39.96±12.24) months for the control group.There was no significant difference observed in the distribution of birth weight(χ2=3.888, P=0.140) and gestational age specific birth weight(χ2=0.462, P=0.794)between two groups.But the distribution of gestational age was significantly different(χ2=9.476, P=0.009) .Children with autism have significant delaying in motor development compared with healthy children at same age, which including head lifting(3.50(1.00)month), rolling(6.00(3.50)month), sitting(8.00(2.50)month), etc.Preterm birth could have an effect on head lifting, rolling and sitting in children with autism, and also was the risk factor of delaying occurrence of head lifting(OR=2.911, 95%CI=1.491-5.681); Small for gestational age(SGA) was also a risk factor of delaying in walking(OR=1.703, 95%CI=1.053-2.754). Conclusion Evident delaying of motor development is observed among children with autism.Both preterm and SGA are risk factors for delayed motor development.Thus, early recognization of abnormities in motor development should raise awareness among caregivers and children care workers and assist in early diagnosis of children with autism. Key words: Autism; Preterm birth; Birth body weight; Gestational age specific birth weight