Harvard School of Public Health Study Explores Links to Autism

The Harvard Crimson
May 25, 2010

By Helen X. Yang, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health recently discovered a link between the consumption of a common class of infertility drug while pregnant and the birth of autistic children.


The study, presented last Wednesday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia, found that women who had taken ovulation-inducing drugs, either orally or through injections, were at almost twice the risk of giving birth to children who develop autism compared to women who had not taken any fertility drugs. The risk of autism increased with the time the mothers underwent such fertility treatments.

A history of infertility was also found to be associated with autism disorders.

This is the first study to examine the potential relationship of ovulation-inducing drugs and autism, according to Kristen H. Lyall, the study’s lead investigator and a post-doc at the School of Public Health.

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