A new study suggests that the popular epidural procedure used by many women in labor may pose a 37% relative increased risk of having a child with an autism spectrum disorder.
Specifically, study authors looked at 147,985 children delivered vaginally to learn that 1.9% delivered with epidural analgesia had an autism spectrum disorder; 1.3% delivered without analgesia were on the autism spectrum.
Their findings thus showed that “exposure to epidural analgesia for vaginal delivery may be associated with increased risk of autism in children.” They also suggested that further studies be done to fully understand why this occurs.
SOURCE: JAMA Pediatrics October 12, 2020