Browsing by Author "Lamberg, Sara"

Objectives. Autistic traits are normally distributed among general population and autism spectrum disorder can be thought to be in the other extreme end of the distribution. Preterm (<37 weeks) birth is a known risk factor for autism spectrum disorder and traits. Late preterm newborns (34+0 - 36+6) are the fastest growing subset of neonates worldwide. The majority of preterm births occur between these gestational weeks. Late preterm birth has been linked to autistic traits in toddlers but there is no current research on whether these traits persist into adulthood. This study examines whether late preterm birth is also associated with self-assessed autistic traits in adulthood. The study also examines whether the participant's birth weight relative to the length of gestation is a moderating factor for this association. Methods. The participants of this study are a part of the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study follow-up cohort. The study sample comprised of 2193 infants whose gestational age was reliably specified and who filled in the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) self report-questionaire. The final sample comprised of 684 participants of whom 90 were born late-preterm and 578 were born term. The effect of late-preterm birth to self-reported autistic traits was analyzed using linear regression models. Results and conclusions. Late preterm birth was not associated with increased risk of autistic traits in young adults. Neither was the relative birth weight a moderating factor for this association. More follow-up studies are needed to determine which are the specific factors contributing to autistic traits in specific age groups for different sub-categories of preterm birth. More information should be gathered about the potential confounding factors to determine which are the specific factors that may contribute to positive outcome.