A new study debunks the belief that maternal health during pregnancy causes autism. After an extensive analysis of medical records, researchers found that genetics and environment play a more significant role, with fetal complications being an early sign of autism — not a cause of it.

For years, research has suggested that a mother's health during pregnancy may affect a child's likelihood of developing autism. However, a groundbreaking study, based on Denmark's extensive medical databases, paints a completely different picture.
Researchers found that almost all of the health conditions previously thought to cause autism do not actually cause the disease, but are linked to it through genetics or environmental factors. The only link that remained consistent was with complications during fetal development, which scientists say are likely early signs of autism — not the cause of it.
Changing thinking about risk factors for autism
Note following the comments, It is worth noting that the study claiming a link between vaccines and autism was not only negligent but also intentionally falsified. And already in 2010, the journal that published it was removed.
Many studies have suggested that a mother's health during pregnancy affects a child's chances of developing autism. However, the new study found that most of these associations can be explained by other factors, such as genetics, exposure to environmental pollution and access to health services.
The study, conducted by researchers at NYU Langone Health, found that the only medical conditions truly linked to autism were complications that affected the fetus. This means that these complications may be early signs of autism's unique neurological development, rather than the direct cause of its onset.
"Our study shows that there is no compelling evidence that any of the medical conditions diagnosed in the mother cause autism," said senior study author Dr. Magdalena Janka, associate professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Department of Public Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
The study, published in Nature Medicine on January 31, 2025, analyzed the medical records of more than 1.1 million pregnancies among 600,000 mothers from the Danish National Database.
Unlike the United States, where medical records are scattered across multiple healthcare providers, in Denmark all of a person's medical records are stored under a single government number (as in Israel). This allowed the researchers to examine more than 1,700 different ICD-10 diagnoses and focus their analysis on 236 medical conditions that were diagnosed in at least 0.1% of pregnancies.
Decoding the connection between genetics, environment and autism
During the study, the researchers took into account confounding factors that could explain the association between a mother's medical diagnosis and the likelihood of her child being diagnosed with autism. These factors included socioeconomic status and the mother's age at pregnancy. It is known that children of older mothers are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, and those mothers are also more likely to suffer from certain diseases, such as high blood pressure.
After adjusting for these factors, 30 diagnoses remained statistically associated with autism. To understand whether this association indicated causation or merely correlation, the researchers also included siblings of autistic children in the study. If the mother was diagnosed with the same medical condition during pregnancies of children with and without autism, this suggested that the association was due to family factors—such as genetics and environmental exposure—rather than the disease itself.
The role of genetics in autism risk
According to researchers, genetics is the strongest familial factor associated with autism. For example, some of the genes associated with depression are also linked to autism. If a woman experiences depression during pregnancy and her child is later diagnosed with autism, it may be a shared genetic factor rather than the effect of depression on fetal development.
The researchers also analyzed the fathers' medical histories. Any correlation between a father's illness and autism in their children is likely due to family factors, since the father's physical influence on the fetus after fertilization is limited. Indeed, the researchers found that in many fathers, the same medical diagnoses were associated with children with autism as in mothers, suggesting a shared genetic and environmental influence.
After taking into account family factors, the only remaining diagnosis associated with autism was complications during pregnancy affecting the fetus.
"We believe that these diagnoses do not cause autism, but rather are early signs of the unique neurological development of the condition," said Janka. "The current consensus is that autism begins in the womb. Long before a child receives a formal diagnosis, the neurodevelopmental changes are already occurring."
Changing the discourse for parents
“Many mothers of children with autism feel guilty,” said Janka, “they think they did something wrong during the pregnancy, and it’s just heartbreaking. I believe that proving that maternal medical conditions do not cause autism is important, and could lead to better ways to support children with autism and their families.”
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests in childhood and affects communication and behavior. Symptoms vary from person to person, but include difficulty making eye contact, difficulties with social play, repetitive movements or speech, and unusual responses to sensory experiences such as temperature. The disorder continues into adulthood but in different ways. According to federal estimates, autism affects 1 in 54 children in the United States.
More of the topic in Hayadan: (Beresheet is the Hebrew name for the book of Genesis)
2 תגובות
First of all, today anyone who is a little less than brilliant is already diagnosed on the spectrum. Which I think is very, very problematic. It turns normal people into disabled people. And normalizes the transformation of people who were a little strange into disabled and disabled. A problematic theory that sanctifies excellence as the norm and the rest are freaks… A bit of race theory?
2 people who are a little slow with some communication problems may have a child with autism because maybe the parents also have some... and maybe the vaccines make it worse... the mercury or what's in there to preserve the vaccine
Heavy metals that accumulate in the brain alongside nanoplastics that are incorporated into cells and impair the formation of neuronal connections. Certain genetics are more sensitive than others.