Inducing labor may be tied to autism, study says

[alp227]

Source: AP

The biggest study of its kind suggests autism might be linked with inducing and speeding up labor, preliminary findings that need investigating since labor is induced in increasing numbers of U.S. women, the authors and other autism experts say.

It's possible that labor-inducing drugs might increase the risk — or that the problems that lead doctors to start labor explain the results. These include mothers' diabetes and fetal complications, which have previously been linked with autism.

Like most research into autism causes, the study doesn't provide conclusive answers, and the authors say the results shouldn't lead doctors to avoid inducing labor or speeding it up since it can be life-saving for mothers and babies.

Simon Gregory, lead author and an associate professor of medicine and medical genetics at Duke University, emphasized, "We haven't found a connection for cause and effect. One of the things we need to look at is why they were being induced in the first place."

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/inducing-labor-may-be-tied-autism-study-says

[bravenak]

1. I believe this.

I was induced with my 7 year old. She's autistic.
My 3 year came over a week overdue and naturally.
She's not autistic.

[Throckmorton]

9. Neither of my older children were induced, both are Autistic.

My youngest is adopted, not Autistic, and not induced, according to the medical records.

[bravenak]

11. There it goes.

I'm glad I'm not a doctor. I'm gullible.

[Duer 157099]

13. Positive evidence is more compelling than negative evidence

Not all data weigh the same, imho.

[bravenak]

15. I just got excited.

Us parents blame ourselves and we'd like not to. We need some answers. I used child care for my first child starting at 6 months, I've been at home with her sister the whole three years. That may be a factor. My older daughter has been improving a lot since I quit working. They need to study this.

[Throckmorton]

17. Well, my wife stayed home with both our children until they were school age,

Both are still autistic, and my first wife is dead. Staying home with the children must have killed her.

[bravenak]

18. Kids are deadly.

I hate staying home. I really do. I miss my job.

[unblock]

2. i would rather suspect more the circumstances that lead to inducing as a cause,

rather than the inducing itself.

sure it's possible that the inducing medicines and process cause the problem, but it seems to me far more likely that issues such as fetal distress, restricted fetal blood flow, etc., are the causes, and that inducing probably minimizes what could be far greater damage were labor to go longer.


you'd probably have to have a study that looked only at voluntarily induced labors, comparing those induceds on the due date vs. those that were not induced and delivered after the due date. if you throw in those induced prior to the due date, you're adding in complications based on the reason for inducing prior to the due date.

[Duer 157099]

14. Easy enough to suss out

Some women induce because it fits their schedule. Study those cases and you'll see whether it is cause or effect.

[RebelOne]

3. I have a younger brother and a younger sister

who were both induced and neither of them is autistic. Though my sister is a little strange sometimes , she and my brother are fairly normal.

[sakabatou]

4. I believe the article jumped the gun on it

Just like they jumped the gun on vaccines and other shit.

[1monster]

5. So my son, who shows some signs of autism, and whose half brother is autistic,

may have the autistic symtoms because labor was induced?

I can't keep up with the theories any more...........

(on edit: My stepson was not induced. My son was induced because the water broke and labor did not start within sixteen hours -- no underlying medical reasons other than that for inducing.)

[AtheistCrusader]

6. No KNOWN medical reason.

After all, why did the water break/no following labor?

[1monster]

7. I went on a spring cleaning spree the day before and then met an old college

friend and we went on a long walk about town visiting old haunts.

All that activity may have contributed. He was three weeks early.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. One possible cause in a range of possibilities.

That's the problem with biology, sometimes you never really know for sure. It's all squishy and wet, and doesn't lend itself well to Boolean true/false or even cause/effect type delineation.

[1monster]

10. True, but my point, although obscure, was that there was autism in the family already.

My stepdaughter also has some traits of autism, but she is not autistic.

Just looking at my husband's family, more and more I believe that autism is genetically linked. It may be possible, however, that the autism genes are triggered by envirnonmental agents such as MMR, inducing labor, food additives, etc., etc. We really don't know anything for sure.

[Brickbat]

12. Such a non-story.

Yes -- they should look at why these labors were induced in the first place. Other information that would be helpful includes the kind of induction (mechanical or chemical), perinatal drug exposure and paternal age.

[hedgehog]

16. I thought that there were markers for autism that are in place during the first few weeks,

so early the woman may not realize she is pregnant.