School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
Forward Thinking Birmingham, Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
J Neurodev Disord. 2021 Sep 21;13(1):41. doi: 10.1186/s11689-021-09382-1.
Preterm birth (<37 weeks) adversely affects development in behavioural, cognitive and mental health domains. Heightened rates of autism are identified in preterm populations, indicating that prematurity may confer an increased likelihood of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. The present meta-analysis aims to synthesise existing literature and calculate pooled prevalence estimates for rates of autism characteristics in preterm populations.
Search terms were generated from inspection of relevant high-impact papers and a recent meta-analysis. Five databases were searched from database creation until December 2020 with PRISMA guidelines followed throughout.
10,900 papers were retrieved, with 52 papers included in the final analyses, further classified by assessment method (screening tools N=30, diagnostic assessment N=29). Pooled prevalence estimates for autism in preterm samples was 20% when using screening tools and 6% when using diagnostic assessments. The odds of an autism diagnosis were 3.3 times higher in individuals born preterm than in the general population.
The pooled prevalence estimate of autism characteristics in individuals born preterm is considerably higher than in the general population. Findings highlight the clinical need to provide further monitoring and support for individuals born preterm.
早产（<37 周）会对行为、认知和心理健康领域的发育产生不利影响。在早产儿群体中发现自闭症发病率升高，这表明早产可能会增加不良神经发育结果的可能性。本荟萃分析旨在综合现有文献，并计算早产儿群体中自闭症特征的患病率估计值。
从相关高影响力论文和最近的荟萃分析中检查生成了搜索词。遵循 PRISMA 指南，从数据库创建开始到 2020 年 12 月对五个数据库进行了搜索。
共检索到 10900 篇论文，最终分析包括 52 篇论文，进一步根据评估方法进行分类（筛查工具 N=30，诊断评估 N=29）。使用筛查工具时，早产儿样本中自闭症的患病率估计值为 20%，使用诊断评估时为 6%。与一般人群相比，早产儿患自闭症的几率高 3.3 倍。
早产儿中自闭症特征的患病率估计值明显高于一般人群。研究结果强调了为早产儿提供进一步监测和支持的临床需求。
