ArticleJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine2015
Ritual circumcision and risk of autism spectrum disorder in 0- to 9-year-old boys: national cohort study in Denmark.
Article in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Critical evaluation of contrasting evidence on whether male circumcision has adverse psychological effects: A systematic review.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Paracetamol (acetaminophen) use in infants and children was never shown to be safe for neurodevelopment: a systematic review with citation tracking.European journal of pediatrics · 2022Pooled it
- Critical evaluation of arguments opposing male circumcision: A systematic review.Journal of evidence-based medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Meaning and value attributed to non-therapeutic circumcision of boys among Danish parents of Jewish Origin: The formation of parents and families.Journal of migration and health · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Role of Susceptibility Inducing Cofactors and of Acetaminophen in the Etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Acetaminophen causes neurodevelopmental injury in susceptible babies and children: no valid rationale for controversy.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2024Article
- The Dangers of Acetaminophen for Neurodevelopment Outweigh Scant Evidence for Long-Term Benefits.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Potentially under-recognized late-stage physical and psychosexual complications of non-therapeutic neonatal penile circumcision: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of self-reports from an online community forum.International journal of impotence research · 2023Review
- Infant Circumcision for Sexually Transmitted Infection Risk Reduction Globally.Global health, science and practice · 2022Article
- Non-therapeutic male circumcision in infancy or childhood and risk of human immunodeficiency virus and other sexually transmitted infections: national cohort study in Denmark.European journal of epidemiology · 2022Article
- Evidence-based circumcision policy for Australia.Journal of men's health · 2022Article
- Neonatal male circumcision is associated with altered adult socio-affective processing.Heliyon · 2020Article
- Postnatal Acetaminophen and Potential Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder among Males.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Circumcision registry promotes precise research and fosters informed parental decisions.BMC medical ethics · 2019Article
- Big Data and Health Research-The Governance Challenges in a Mixed Data Economy.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2017Article
- Informed consent and registry-based research - the case of the Danish circumcision registry.BMC medical ethics · 2017Article
- Clinical pharmacology of analgosedatives in neonates: ways to improve their safe and effective use.The Journal of pharmacy and pharmacology · 2017Review
- The role of oxidative stress, inflammation and acetaminophen exposure from birth to early childhood in the induction of autism.The Journal of international medical research · 2017Review
- CDC's Male Circumcision Recommendations Represent a Key Public Health Measure.Global health, science and practice · 2017Article
- Circumcision does not alter long-term glucocorticoids accumulation or psychological effects associated with trauma- and stressor-related disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveBased on converging observations in animal, clinical and ecological studies, we hypothesised a possible impact of ritual circumcision on the subsequent risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in young boys.
designNational, register-based cohort study.
settingDenmark.
participantsA total of 342,877 boys born between 1994 and 2003 and followed in the age span 0-9 years between 1994 and 2013.
main outcome measuresInformation about cohort members' ritual circumcisions, confounders and ASD outcomes, as well as two supplementary outcomes, hyperkinetic disorder and asthma, was obtained from national registers. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) associated with foreskin status were obtained using Cox proportional hazards regression analyses.
resultsWith a total of 4986 ASD cases, our study showed that regardless of cultural background circumcised boys were more likely than intact boys to develop ASD before age 10 years (HR = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.11-1.93). Risk was particularly high for infantile autism before age five years (HR = 2.06; 95% CI: 1.36-3.13). Circumcised boys in non-Muslim families were also more likely to develop hyperkinetic disorder (HR = 1.81; 95% CI: 1.11-2.96). Associations with asthma were consistently inconspicuous (HR = 0.96; 95% CI: 0.84-1.10).
conclusionsWe confirmed our hypothesis that boys who undergo ritual circumcision may run a greater risk of developing ASD. This finding, and the unexpected observation of an increased risk of hyperactivity disorder among circumcised boys in non-Muslim families, need attention, particularly because data limitations most likely rendered our HR estimates conservative. Considering the widespread practice of non-therapeutic circumcision in infancy and childhood around the world, confirmatory studies should be given priority.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.