【翻译】Influenza may increase the risk of infantile autism 流感可能会增加感染自闭症的风险

Influenza may increase the risk of infantile autism
New study shows that influenza or prolonged periods of fever during pregnancy may increase the risk of having a child with infantile autism. Read why the researcher behind the study advises pregnant women NOT to worry.
Children born with severe autism usually face a life filled with difficulties for themselves and their parents.

The children can, for instance, react violently to entirely normal sense impressions, experience sleeping problems and display self-harming behaviours.

So it comes as no surprise that expectant mothers often worry that their child may be born with this rare disorder.

A new Danish study now reveals a link between influenza and fever episodes lasting more than a week during pregnancy and infantile autism.

The study has been cited by media all over the world, but the study’s lead author tells ScienceNordic that due to methodological limitations of the study, the new findings shouldn’t be regarded as a cause for worry:

“If I were pregnant, I wouldn’t get vaccinated against the flu or worry unduly,” says Hjördis Osk Atladóttir, MD, PhD, of Aarhus University’s Department of Public Health, who was the lead author of the new study, published in the journal Pediatrics.

Almost 100,000 women examined
The researchers examined data from the Danish National Birth Cohort, which enrolled 101,033 pregnant women from the period 1997-2003, in which about 97,000 children were born.

The women were asked to fill in a questionnaire, which included information about whether or not the women had suffered from influenza or episodes of fever during their pregnancy.

If I were pregnant and read about this, I wouldn’t get vaccinated against the flu or worry unduly.
- Hjördis Osk AtladóttirInformation about autism diagnoses was found in national registers. The figures then underwent statistical analysis.

There were 808 out of the 97,000 mothers that claimed they had experienced influenza during pregnancy. Out of these 808, seven had given birth to a child with infantile autism.

The study found that mothers suffering from influenza in the first or second trimester of their pregnancy were 2.3 times more likely than normal to give birth to a child with autism.

Researcher: no cause for worry
The study should not give pregnant women any reason to worry about catching the flu while their stomach is growing, insists Atladóttir.

”Our study shows that 99 percent of women who experience influenza, fever, or take antibiotics during their pregnancy do not give birth to children with autism.”

Less than one percent of the women experiencing influenza had a baby with this rare disorder. The increased risk of 2.3 should be viewed in relation to the fact that 0.4 percent of all infants in the population are born with infantile autism. When you multiply 0.4 with 2.3, the occurrence of infantile autism is still below 1 percent.


流感可能会增加感染自闭症的风险
新的研究表明，如果一个孕妇在怀孕期间得流感或者长时间发热，有可能会增加一个孩子得自闭症的风险。
天生患有自闭症的儿童会给他们自己和他们的父母的生活带来许多麻烦。例如，自闭症儿童对一些很普通的举动会产生很剧烈的反应，有时候还会做出一些自我伤害的行为。
那么，毫无疑问，准妈妈们常常担心自己的孩子患上这种罕见的疾病。 丹麦一个新的研究揭示了准妈妈们在怀孕期间流感、持续一个多星期的发烧与自闭症之间的联系。这项研究已经引起世界各地的媒体的关注，但一位研究人员告诉Science Nordic，人们不应该过度担心因为种种原因限制了我们的研究，影响了结果。
奥胡斯大学公共卫生学系的医学、哲学博士，同时也是这项研究的负责人Hjördis Osk Atladóttir表示，如果她怀孕了，他不会接种流感疫苗也不会过度的担心。
将近十万妇女进行检查
研究人员研究的数据来自丹麦全国的统计数据，从1997年至2003年期间，101,033孕妇中，约有97,000名儿童出生。这些准妈妈们被要求填写一份调查问卷，其中包括是否在怀孕期间有过流感或者发烧的经历的信息。 在97,000位母亲中，有808人表示她们在怀孕期间经历了流感，在这些母亲的孩子之中，七个人怀上了先天性的自闭症。研究表明，若一位母亲在第一或第二孕期间患上流感，她的孩子患上自闭症的可能性为正常孩子的2.3倍。
研究人员：不用担心
准妈妈们不应该为在自己肚子越来越大的时候患上了流感而担心，Atladóttir说道，我们的研究表明99%的准妈妈在怀孕期间遇到感冒，发烧或者服用抗生素，不会生出患有先天性自闭症的孩子。事实上，儿童患上先天性自闭症的几率为0.4%，若你将0.4%乘上2.3，所得到的结果也小于1%，所以那些在怀孕期间得过流感的准妈妈们可以不用担心。