Interesting.... Alas, it looks like they didn't do any comparisons based on cause of c-section (except emergency versus elective, which apparently had no difference) or parent age.
Some thoughts... (mostly based on the USA, but the study says Sweden)
The USA has a whopping 30%+ cesarean rate. While it's true that average maternal age is going up, and elective c-sections are popular in some circles, any time I've heard of any kind of survey or study on the reason for the high rate, it points at the doctors being the main cause. (Some interventions used in labor are correlated with a higher CS rate, and lots of women report their doctor pressuring them to do a CS.)
It seems autism diagnosis is correlated with socioeconomic status (in the USA) (rich kids get diagnosed more, probably because theirs parents have the resources to make it happen). I wonder about CS rates? Elective CS motivated by convinience or vanity is surely more common among rich moms, but what about other CS situations?
I read somewhere that CS seems to cause problems with gut flora (apparently babies' guts get populated largely during the trip through the birth canal, which is another example of the miracle of life being kind of gross). I read somewhere else that problems with gut flora seem to exacerbate autism symptoms. Certainly, autism is associated with gastrointestinal problems. Could be related.
I was a little confused by what the report said about the sibling analysis.
As usual, the study does not distinguish BAP, and it doesn't look at other diagnoses either (such as in the siblings). I think the way mental and neurological conditions are diagnosed more based on symptoms rather than an underlying medical cause can really muddle correlations with what caused the problem. Like if you have every possible autism-related problem except you managed to dodge the bullet regarding communication problems, you'll probably get diagnosed with ADHD, or SPD, or nothing.
24 Jun 2015, 8:30 pm
