Original ArticleAutism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated with Ventricular Enlargement in a Low Birth Weight Population
Section snippets
Methods
This secondary data analysis of longitudinal Neonatal Brain Hemorrhage Study data was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Michigan State University.
Enrollment in the Neonatal Brain Hemorrhage Study consisted of 1105 infants weighing between 500 and 2000 g who were born in or transferred into 3 central New Jersey study hospitals between 8/27/1984 and 6/30/1987. In the first year of the study, 598/687, (87%) of all babies <2000 g born in 1 of the 3 counties of central New Jersey
Characteristics of the Cohort
Table I compares characteristics of the study participants who were assessed for ASD at age 21 years (n = 189) by ASD status; Table I, includes many of the obstetric, birth, and postnatal factors that have been shown to be associated with higher incidence of ASD.19, 20 We found that a significantly higher percentage of study participants who screened positive for ASD had been born to mothers with maternal hypertension. We also found that the percentage of cerebral palsy and/or motor impairment
Discussion
In a prospective study of LBW infants assessed for ASD at 21 years of age with validated instruments, we found a strong and significant association between the presence of ventricular enlargement on cranial ultrasound in the newborn period and risk of ASD. The data did not allow a definite conclusion to be drawn regarding the relationship of parenchymal lesion to the diagnosis of ASD. However, both forms of white matter injury (parenchymal lesion and ventricular enlargement) were associated
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T.M. was funded by the National Institutes of Health (T32 Perinatal Epidemiology Training Grant 2T32HD046377). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.