Ek U, Fernell E, Jacobson L, Gillberg C
Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm, Sweden.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 1998 May;40(5):297-301.
Children with blindness due to retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)--who are at greatly increased risk of cerebral damage--have been noted to have a high rate of autistic symptoms, but systematic controlled studies have been lacking. A controlled population-based study was performed; one group was blind due to ROP (N=27) and the other was congenitally blind due to hereditary retinal disease (N=14). Fifteen of the 27 children with ROP had autistic disorder. All these children were mentally retarded and about one-third of them had cerebral palsy. In the comparison group, two of the 14 children had autistic disorder. It is concluded that there is a strong association between ROP and autistic disorder. The association is most probably mediated by brain damage and is largely independent of the blindness per se.
因早产儿视网膜病变（ROP）导致失明的儿童——他们发生脑损伤的风险大幅增加——被发现自闭症症状发生率很高，但一直缺乏系统性对照研究。开展了一项基于人群的对照研究；一组因ROP失明（N = 27），另一组因遗传性视网膜疾病先天性失明（N = 14）。27名ROP患儿中有15名患有自闭症谱系障碍。所有这些儿童都有智力障碍，约三分之一患有脑瘫。在对照组中，14名儿童中有2名患有自闭症谱系障碍。得出的结论是，ROP与自闭症谱系障碍之间存在很强的关联。这种关联很可能是由脑损伤介导的，并且在很大程度上独立于失明本身。
