Infants born underweight means less than four lb could be more likely to develop autism in comparison to infants born with normal weight, recommends a novel study. Low birth weight has been associated with a wide range of motor and cognitive problems, which frequently goes hand-in-hand with preterm birth and birth related complications.
This is the first study that establishes that underweight children may also have a greater risk of developing autism spectrum disorders (ASD). For their study researchers from the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Nursing followed nearly nine hundred new born infants from New Jersey with low birth weight, from birth to the age of twenty.
The infants included in the study were born between 1984 and 1987 in three counties in New Jersey. All study infants were weighed between half kg and two kg or maximum up to four and half kg. By reaching the age of sixteen, more than six hundred children were screened for risk of ASD.
Among those nearly one hundred and seventeen infants were found to be positive in that screening, seventy children were assessed again at age of twenty-one. Eleven children in that group were found to have ASD. From these findings, researchers evaluated an estimated occurrence rate of ASD in underweight children is equal to five percent.
According to lead researcher Jennifer Pinto-Martin, director of the autism centre where this research was conducted, cognitive problems in these children may mask underlying autism. If there is suspicion of autism or a positive screening test for ASD, parents should seek an evaluation for an ASD. Early intervention improves long-term result and can help these children both at school and at home.
However, more study is required to confirm and understand the association. The association seems genuine, but nevertheless, most low birth weight children do not have autism and most children with autism do not have low birth weight, explained Dorothy Bishop, professor of developmental neuropsychology at the University of Oxford. The study was reported in Pediatrics journal.