ArticlePediatrics2021
Preterm or Early Term Birth and Risk of Autism.
Article in Pediatrics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 126 papers, 6 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
126 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 215 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying the risk factors of autism spectrum disorders in infants born preterm: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Swiss Recommendations for the Perinatal Care of Extremely Low Gestational Age Neonates.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2026Guideline
- Prenatal maternal psychological distress and the risk of autism spectrum disorders in offspring: results from a meta-analysis of observational studies.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Evaluation of the evidence on acetaminophen use and neurodevelopmental disorders using the Navigation Guide methodology.Environmental health : a global access science source · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis by birth weight, gestational age, and size for gestational age: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Sex differences in the effects of prematurity and/or low birthweight on neurodevelopmental outcomes: systematic review and meta-analyses.Biology of sex differences · 2023Pooled it
- Patients in Every Practice: Health Status and Health Experiences of an International Sample of Adults Born Preterm.Journal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing · 2026Article
- Burden of Co-occurring Conditions and Perinatal Predictors of Epilepsy in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study of 1015 Children From Northwestern Mexico.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- A Prospective Birth Cohort Study on the Association Between Cord Blood Acylcarnitine Profile and Childhood Risk of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry · 2026Article
- Predicting 18-month M-CHAT-R/F With PediaTracJournal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Prenatal exposure to gas stoves, mold, and water damage: Associations with gestational duration and fetal growth in the ECHO cohort.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2026Article
- Role of soluble alpha-klotho as a novel biomarker for characterizing children with autism spectrum disorder in Kurdistan, Iraq.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2026Article
- Childhood post-adoption experiences and the long-term trajectories of deprivation-specific neurodevelopmental problems: a longitudinal study of the English and Romanian adoptee cohort.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Impacts of the Early Collaborative Intervention on mother-preterm infant interaction at one month of age: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Article
- From microbes to milestones: Gut bacterial abundances and functional pathways associate with neurodevelopment following preterm birth.Gut microbiology · 2026Article
- Risk factors for autism spectrum disorder among infants and children admitted in a neonatal intensive care unit.Dialogues in health · 2026Article
- Review
- White matter structure-function coupling in neonatal brain and its association with Autism-related traits in early childhood.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Adrenomedullin restores the human cortical interneurons migration defects induced by hypoxia.eLife · 2026Article
- Dynamics of infant white matter maturation from birth to 6 months.Communications biology · 2026Article
66 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
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesPreterm birth has been linked with increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, potential causality, sex-specific differences, and association with early term birth are unclear. We examined whether preterm and early term birth are associated with ASD in a large population-based cohort.
methodsA national cohort study was conducted of all 4 061 795 singleton infants born in Sweden during 1973-2013 who survived to age 1 year, who were followed-up for ASD identified from nationwide outpatient and inpatient diagnoses through 2015. Poisson regression was used to determine prevalence ratios for ASD associated with gestational age at birth, adjusting for confounders. Cosibling analyses were used to assess the influence of unmeasured shared familial (genetic and/or environmental) factors.
resultsASD prevalences by gestational age at birth were 6.1% for extremely preterm (22-27 weeks), 2.6% for very to moderate preterm (28-33 weeks), 1.9% for late preterm (34-36 weeks), 2.1% for all preterm (<37 weeks), 1.6% for early term (37-38 weeks), and 1.4% for term (39-41 weeks). The adjusted prevalence ratios comparing extremely preterm, all preterm, or early term versus term, respectively, were 3.72 (95% confidence interval, 3.27-4.23), 1.35 (1.30-1.40), and 1.11 (1.08-1.13) among boys and 4.19 (3.45-5.09), 1.53 (1.45-1.62), and 1.16 (1.12-1.20) among girls (
conclusionsIn this national cohort, preterm and early term birth were associated with increased risk of ASD in boys and girls. These associations were largely independent of covariates and shared familial factors, consistent with a potential causal relationship.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.