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Gestational age and sex interaction and risk for autism spectrum disorder in extremely preterm newborns: an 18‑month follow‑up study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2024

L. Pina-Camacho*
Affiliation:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense
J. Merchan-Naranjo
Affiliation:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense
E. Rodriguez-Toscano
Affiliation:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense
L. Martin
Affiliation:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense
C. Romero
Affiliation:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense
L. Boada
Affiliation:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, CIBERSAM, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense
S. Zeballos
Affiliation:
2Neonatology Service, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
M. Arriaga
Affiliation:
2Neonatology Service, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
D. Blanco-Bravo
Affiliation:
2Neonatology Service, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañon, IiSGM, School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Extremely preterm newborns - EPTN (born ≤28 weeks gestational age) are at increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Demographic and perinatal risk factors associated with ASD risk in EPTN are understudied.

Objectives

(i) In EPTN and born at full-term healthy controls (HC), to characterize the emergence of ASD traits and autistic symptom load at age 18 months; (ii) in EPTN, to identify the influence of perinatal characteristics such as sex and gestational age on autistic symptom load at corrected-age 18 months.

Methods

Observational, longitudinal, prospective, 18-month follow-up study. We recruited a cohort of n=113 EPTN and n=47 HC (the PremTEA cohort); n=57 EPTN and n=42 HC successfully completed the 18-month follow-up visit. We assessed autistic symptom load & risk at 18 months using the M-CHAT-R/F questionnaire. For all EPTN and HC, we collected demographic and perinatal data. Using GLMs, we assessed, in EPTN, the association between demographic/perinatal variables and 18-month autistic symptom levels.

Results

At 18 months, EPTN children showed higher autistic symptom levels than HC (M-CHAT-R/F score, mean (SD) [range] = 2.21 (3.23) [0-12] in EPTN vs. 0.33 (0.57) [0-2] in HC; d=.873, p=.001. In EPTN, we identified differences by gestational age and sex in autistic symptom levels at 18 months (aR2=0.517, p=.006). In particular, female EPTNs born with lower gestational age showed higher autistic symptom load at age 18 months.

Conclusions

Our findings support the need for early screening of ASD symptomatology in EPTN infants, particularly in higher-risk subgroups, such as female patients born with lower gestational ages.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Psychiatric Association
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