Full-term newborns with jaundice are at a higher risk for psychological disorders, including the autism spectrum disorder known as pervasive developmental disorder, according to a very large Danish study published in yesterday’s Pediatrics. The study used the Danish Medical Birth Register to follow over 700,000 Danish children born between 1994 and 2004 and found that of the 35,766 children with neonatal jaundice, 1,721 (about 5 percent) were diagnosed with a psychological disorder. The researchers determined that this correlation was statistically significant for newborns born to full-term but not for premature infants. Full-term neonates born with jaundice were found to be at a 56 percent higher risk of pervasive developmental disorder and 90 percent more likely to be diagnosed with a psychological abnormality. Jaundice occurs when the liver cannot properly excrete bile, causing the skin to turn yellow.
Lead researcher Rikke Damkjær Maimburg says that the “difference in risk for term and preterm children might suggest that brain development undergoes a sensitive period with special vulnerability to bilirubin exposure at ~40 weeks of gestation.”
“That’s certainly one factor not widely known in the discussion of what might be contributing to the rise in autism diagnoses over the past few decades,” said Dr. Ross. “If confirmed, research into the precise mechanism of bilirubin-induced brain developmental impairments may help to shed more light on the real causation of autism.”
On a related note, the Supreme Court is hearing arguments today dealing with the constitutionality of the compensation system for vaccine-related injury cases. The system was setup in 1986 to protect vaccine manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits that drove most of the vaccine makers to stop doing business in the USA. “If the Supreme Court decides that the compensation system is unconstitutional, it will lead to another flood of lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, and we will be left with only one or two vaccine makers while the rest will flee to safer shores,” Dr. Ross predicts. “The predictable result would be catastrophic shortages of lifesaving vaccines. Hopefully the Supremes will throw the case out and preserve the current system. Interestingly, this case has nothing to do with autism.”