No link between epidurals and autism

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-04-20 01:00

International

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A Canadian study for more than 120,000 births has found no link between having an epidural during labour and the risk of autism developing in children. A 2020 study had suggested that epidurals increased the risk of autism, but after that study was published five medical societies that represent more than 100,000 doctors questioned the plausibility of the reported association and expressed concern that other factors may have been skewing the results. This new study attempts to remove these potential biases, and after adjusting for a large set of sociodemographic, prepregnancy, and perinatal factors, the authors say they found no link between epidurals and an increased risk of autism in children.

Media release

From: JAMA

Investigating Epidural Labor Pain Relief, Offspring Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders

JAMA Pediatrics
Original Investigation

What The Study Did: This population-based study of multiple databases from Canada found no association between epidural labor pain relief and risk of autism spectrum disorders in children.

Authors: Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, Ph.D., of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, is the corresponding author.

(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0376)

Editor’s Note: The article includes conflict of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Pediatrics

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Manitoba

Funder: This work was supported by funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PJT-162111). DrWall-Wieler is supported by a Canada Research Chair in Population Data Analytics and Data Curation.

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