Brief report: Incidence of and risk factors for autistic disorder in neonatal intensive care unit survivors

We investigated prospectively the incidence of autistic disorder (AD) in the neonatal intensive care unit and the risk factors associated with autistic development. The study population included the 5,271 children at St. Mary's Hospital and the diagnosis of AD was performed using DSM-III-R criteria. A total of 36 prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal factors were evaluated in the patients with AD, 57 cerebral palsy (CP), and 214 controls. AD was identified in 18 of the 5,271 children and the incidence was 34 per 10,000 (0.34%). This value was more than twice the highest prevalence value previously reported in Japan. Children with AD had a significantly higher history of the meconium aspiration syndrome (p = .0010) than the controls. Autistic patients had different risk factors than CP.