Perinatal and background risk factors for childhood autism in central China

Abstract

Perinatal and background risk factors for autism were identified in a cohort of autistic children in Zhengzhou, China, to formulate preventative and treatment strategies for high-risk families. In this case-control study, children were screened for suspected autism using the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC) and diagnosed according to DSM-IV and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). We collected perinatal histories and clinical data of 286 confirmed autistic children treated at the Third Affiliated Hospital Children׳s Psychological Clinic of Zhengzhou University from 2011 to 2013. The control group consisted of 286 healthy children from area kindergartens. Maternal age>30 years, parental introversion as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, low level of parental education, smoking, abortion threat, pregnancy complications, maternal illness during pregnancy, maternal mental health, family history of mental illness, neonatal jaundice, birth asphyxia, premature rupture of the fetal membrane, and gestational age<37 weeks were significantly higher in the autism group. These factors were significantly correlated with behavioral symptoms as measured by ABC scores (Kendall rank correlation). Birth asphyxia, neonatal jaundice, maternal age, parental introversion, family history of mental illness, abortion threat, premature delivery, and smoking were identified as independent risk factors by multivariate logistic regression.