Using the Swedish Medical Birth Registry (MBR), obstetrical and demographic information was retrieved for 250 children with autism or Asperger syndrome who were born in Malmoe, Sweden, and enrolled at the local Child and Youth Habilitation Center. The reference group consisted of all children born in Malmoe during 1980-2005. Obstetric sub-optimality (prematurity, low Apgar scores, growth restriction, or macrosomia) was positively associated with autism but not with Asperger syndrome. Maternal birth outside the Nordic countries was positively associated with autism (adjusted OR: 2.2; 95%CI: 1.6-3.1) and negatively associated with Asperger syndrome (OR: 0.6; 95%CI: 0.3-0.97). The highest risk estimate for autism was found among children to women who were born in sub-Saharan Africa (OR: 7.3), or in East Asia (OR: 3.4). © The Author(s), 2011.

Autism Migration Asperger syndrome perinatal factors

medical record review South and Central America Africa south of the Sahara Maternal Age demography Pregnancy Complications register human sex difference growth retardation Middle East Odds Ratio controlled study autism priority journal Confidence Intervals Far East Eastern Europe Logistic Models Western Europe Infant, Premature Asperger syndrome United States Young Adult Sweden school child Humans Adolescent Infant, Newborn male maternal smoking female large for gestational age preschool child risk factor Emigrants and Immigrants Infant Africa Apgar score Risk Factors pregnancy Child, Preschool Multivariate Analysis forceps delivery Autistic Disorder vacuum extraction Article low birth weight major clinical study adult North Africa prematurity vaginal delivery parity childbirth Fetal Macrosomia Fetal Growth Retardation disease association macrosomia Birth Weight gestational age cesarean section obstetrics Child