Coming down with a fever during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, according to a new study published in the Molecular Psychiatry.
The study involved assessing the data of over 95,000 children born between 1999 and 2009. According to researchers, there were a total of 583 cases of autism among the participants.
About 16% of the mothers reported coming down with a fever during pregnancy. The researchers noted an increased risk of autism by 34% or higher when mothers reported having a fever at some point in the pregnancy.
A new study revealed that women who came down with fever during pregnancy have a higher risk of giving birth to babies with autism spectrum disorder.
The study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, showed that children born from mothers who caught a cold during their second trimester were 40 percent more likely to develop autism. Furthermore, the risk increases threefold when the mother suffered from three or more fever after the 12th week of pregnancy.
"There is something in the mother's immune response that may increase the risk for the infant," said Dr. Mady Hornig, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City and lead author of the study, in a report from Health Day. "But it's not in every mother. We don't think this is a pathway for autism. We don't think it's the only way autism is triggered in children."
Image courtesy of: Greyson Rose
