ArticleMolecular psychiatry2018
Prenatal fever and autism risk.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 101 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
101 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 212 citations in OpenAlex.
- Autism Spectrum Disorders and Purinergic Signaling: A Systematic Review of Emerging Insights from Preclinical Studies.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Pooled it
- Fever during pregnancy as a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders: results from a systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular autism · 2021Pooled it
- Acetaminophen produces limited molecular and functional effects in human cortical organoids.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Decoding neurodevelopment risks of exposures to intoxication, infection, and trauma during pregnancy.Pregnancy (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Review
- Acetaminophen-induced liver injury triggers short- and long-term neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier disruption, and behavioral deficits in a genetic mouse model of autism.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2026Article
- Maternal immune activation in mice recapitulates features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in susceptible offspring.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Plasma Extracellular Vesicles (EVs)-Mediated Immune Dysregulation and Chronic Inflammation in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Article
- Biopsychosocial factors during pregnancy and their implications for autism spectrum disorder: a scoping review.BMC pediatrics · 2026Article
- Individual and Combined Associations of Maternal Fever, Placental Inflammation, and Prematurity With Autism and ADHD.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Prenatal exposure to extreme heat and autism in children.The Science of the total environment · 2026Article
- ACMT Position Statement: ACMT Responds to the Acetaminophen and Autism Controversy.Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology · 2026Article
- Review
- Evaluating the impact of labor induction on autism spectrum disorder risk.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2025Article
- The Role of Prenatal Microglial Activation and Its Sex Differences in the Development of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Neurodegenerative Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Article
- Prenatal and early childhood infections requiring hospitalization and risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring: a population-based birth cohort study in Taiwan.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Human Brain Organoids Model Abnormal Prenatal Neural Development Induced by Thermal Stimulation.Cell proliferation · 2025Article
- Environmental factors associated with autism spectrum disorder in Southern Europe: a systematic review.International journal of developmental disabilities · 2025Review
- Identification of Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide-Associated Genes and Molecular Subtypes in Autism Spectrum Disorder.Pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine · 2025Article
- Role of Maternal Immune Factors in Neuroimmunology of Brain Development.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Review
41 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
18 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Some studies suggest that prenatal infection increases risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This study was undertaken in a prospective cohort in Norway to examine whether we could find evidence to support an association of the prenatal occurrence of fever, a common manifestation of infection, with ASD risk. Prospective questionnaires provided maternal exposure data; case status was established from clinical assessments and registry linkages. In a large, prospectively ascertained cohort of pregnant mothers and their offspring, we examined infants born ⩾32 weeks for associations between fever exposure in each trimester and ASD risk using logistic regression. Maternal exposure to second-trimester fever was associated with increased ASD risk, adjusting for presence of fever in other trimesters and confounders (adjusted odds ratio (aOR), 1.40; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.79), with a similar, but nonsignificant, point estimate in the first trimester. Risk increased markedly with exposure to three or more fever episodes after 12 weeks' gestation (aOR, 3.12; 1.28-7.63). ASD risk appears to increase with maternal fever, particularly in the second trimester. Risk magnified dose dependently with exposure to multiple fevers after 12 weeks' gestation. Our findings support a role for gestational maternal infection and innate immune responses to infection in the pathogenesis of at least some cases of ASD.
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Registered trials
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.