Prevalence and risk factors of autism spectrum disorders in preschool children in Sharkia, Egypt: a community-based study

Middle East Current Psychiatry

Table 3 Comparison between autistic and non-autistic children in natal and perinatal data

Variable	Autistic (n = 20)		Non autistic# (n = 84)		χ²	P
Variable	No.	%	No.	%	χ²	P
Type of pregnancy
Natural	20	100	84	100	--	--
Gestational age
Full term	20	100	84	100	--	--
Place of delivery
ZUH	2	10	0	0
Private hospital	12	60	78	92.9	Fisher	0.60
Clinic	4	20	4	4.8		NS
Home	2	10	2	2.4
Mode of delivery
NVD	12	60	35	41.7	2.19	0.14
CS	8	40	49	58.3		NS
Birth weight					t
Mean ± SD	3.25 ± 0.33		3.37 ± 0.22		1.92	0.06
Range	2.6-3.5		3-3.5			NS
Complication at birth
No	20	100	78	92.9	Fisher	0.41
Yes	0	0	6	7.1		NS
Incubator
No	20	100	80	95.2	Fisher	0.42
Yes	0	0	4	4.8		NS
Feeding
Breast feeding	5	25	50	59.5
Artificial	8	40	18	21.4	7.73	0.02*
Combined	7	35	16	19
Type of milk
Fresh animal	7	46.7	0	0	Fisher	< 0.001**
Powdered milk	8	53.3	34	100
Onset of weaning
≤ 6 months	19	95	50	59.5	Fisher	< 0.001**
≥ 6 months	1	5	34	40.5
Artificial food
No	8	40	73	86.9	20.63	< 0.001**
Yes	12	60	11	13.1