1. Brief Report: Pregnancy, Birth and Infant Feeding Practices: A Survey-Based Investigation into Risk Factors for Autism Spectrum Disorder.
- Author
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Whitely, Aleesha, Shandley, Kerrie, Huynh, Minh, Brown, Christine M., Austin, David W., and Bhowmik, Jahar
- Subjects
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AUTISM risk factors , *CHILDBIRTH , *STATISTICAL significance , *ANALYSIS of variance , *CONFIDENCE intervals , *REGRESSION analysis , *INFANT nutrition , *RISK assessment , *PEARSON correlation (Statistics) , *SURVEYS , *NEURAL development , *PREGNANCY complications , *CHI-squared test , *DESCRIPTIVE statistics , *QUALITY of life , *DEMOGRAPHY , *LOGISTIC regression analysis , *STATISTICAL correlation , *RECEIVER operating characteristic curves , *ODDS ratio - Abstract
A succession of interconnected environmental factors is believed to contribute substantially to the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This exploratory study therefore aims to identify potential risk factors for ASD that are associated with pregnancy, birth and infant feeding. Demographic and health-related data on children aged 3–13 years (N = 4306) was collected through an online survey completed by biological mothers. A fitted logistic regression model identified advanced maternal age, prenatal bleeding, pre-eclampsia, perinatal pethidine usage, foetal distress before birth and male sex of child as associated with an increased risk of ASD, whereas longer gestational duration demonstrated a protective effect. These findings highlight potential risk factors and predictor interrelationships which may contribute to overall ASD risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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