Women Abused as Children give Birth to Autistic Kids

Battered women who have suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse as children are more likely to have kids with autism when compared to women who were not abused.

The latest study conducted by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) reveals a strong association between the severity of the abuse and the chances of having an autistic kid. Those women who suffered severe abuse were three times more likely to give birth to an autistic kid.

"Our study identifies a completely new risk factor for autism," lead author Andrea Roberts, research associate in the HSPH Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, said in a press statement. "Further research to understand how a woman's experience of abuse is associated with autism in her children may help us better understand the causes of autism and identify preventable risk factors."

This is the first study of its kind that discovers a link between the mother's exposure to childhood abuse and the risk of giving birth to an autistic kid.

In order to prove the hypothesis, researchers evaluated the data of more than 50,000 women who were a part of the Nurses' Health Study II. The risk of giving birth to an autistic kid was not just limited to women who faced serious levels of abuse, but also to those women who faced moderate abuse.

They noticed that women with severe and moderate abuse were 60 percent more likely to have an autistic kid, when compared to women who didn't experience abuse. This study highlights the fact that childhood abuse not just harms the person experiencing it, but also increases the risk for serious health issues for the coming generation.

Apart from this, the study noticed that women who experienced abuse during childhood were at a higher risk for each of the nine pregnancy-related risk factors that the researchers observed.

According to the researchers, women who were abused as kids have a long-lasting effect on their biological systems that include the immune system and the stress response system. This is responsible for increasing the risk of autism in the newborn.

The study appears online March 20, 2013, and in the May 2013 print issue of JAMA Psychiatry.