Pregnancy Length May Influence Severity of Autism

April 6th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

FRIDAY, April 6 (HealthDay News) — Children with autism who were
born either prematurely or several weeks late may experience more severe
symptoms than kids with autism who were born on time, according to a new
study.

These children also may be more likely to inflict self-injury,
researchers found.

Although the reasons their symptoms are more severe remain unknown, the
study suggested it may have something to do with what caused the children
to be born before 36 weeks’ gestation or after 42 weeks.

“With preterm and post-term babies, there is something underlying that
is altering the genetic expression of autism,” Tammy Movsas, a
postdoctoral epidemiology fellow at Michigan State University‘s College of
Human Medicine, said in a university news release.

“The outside environment in which a preterm baby continues to mature is
very different than the environment that the baby would have experienced
in utero,” she said. “This change in environment may be part of the reason
why there is a difference in autistic severity in this set of
infants.”

The researchers examined an online database of 4,200 mothers with
children with autism, ranging in age from 4 to 21 years. They grouped the
children into one of four categories based on the timing of their birth:
very preterm (fewer than 34 weeks’ gestation), preterm (34 to 37 weeks),
standard (37 to 42 weeks) and post-term (more than 42 weeks).

The mothers completed questionnaires about their child’s symptoms. The
study revealed very preterm, preterm and post-term children with autism
had significantly more severe cases than children with autism who were
born between 37 and 42 weeks gestation.

Although the study found a link between length of pregnancy and autism
severity, it did not show a cause-and-effect relationship.

“Normal gestation age of birth seems to mitigate the severity of autism
spectrum disorder symptoms, and the types of autistic traits tend to be
different depending on age at birth,” Movsas said.

For babies born late, the study’s authors said prolonged exposure to
hormones, higher rates of problems with the placenta and Cesarean section
could play a role in the severity of a child’s autism.

On the other hand, the study also revealed that very preterm babies
show an increase in the mannerisms associated with autism.

Nigel Paneth, an epidemiologist at Michigan State, said that although
autism has a strong genetic component, the findings indicate that
something about pregnancy or the perinatal period may affect how autism
manifests itself.

“This adds to our earlier finding that prematurity is a major risk
factor for autism spectrum disorder and may help us understand if anything
can be done during early life to prevent or alleviate autism spectrum
disorder,” he said in the news release.

The study was published online April 3 in the Journal of Autism and
Development Disorders.

No one knows what causes autism. Other research published this week
found that spontaneous genetic mutations and older fathers may influence a
small number of autism cases.

According to recent figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, one in 88 U.S. children has some form of the neurological
disorder.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
provides more information on autism.