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Recent animal data suggest a link between gestational immune activation and neurodevelopmental anomalies; in humans, maternal infection is the most likely cause of immune activation and could lead to neurodevelopmental problems, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Investigators examined associations between prenatal events and postnatal ASD in children born between 1997and 2003 in the prospective Danish National Birth Cohort. Mothers were interviewed about exposures at 17 and 32 weeks' gestation and 6 months postpartum. Diagnoses of ASD in children were identified from the Danish Psychiatric Registry (mean follow-up, 10 years).
Among 96,736 children aged 8 to 14 years, 976 (1%) were diagnosed with ASD (342 had infantile autism). Minor …