Growth of Head Circumference in Autistic Infants Duringthe First Year of Life

摘要

This study analyzed the increase in headcircumference(HC)of 85 autistic infants(64 boys and 21girls)during their first year of life. The data were collectedfrom their"mother-and-baby"notebooks.This notebook isa medical record of the baby's growth and developmentdelivered to the parents of all babies born in Japan. This isa retrospective study which gathered the data from thenotebooks after the diagnosis of autism.However,none ofthe babies were known to have autism at the time therecords were made.The head circumference at birth ofthese autistic children was similar to that of the averagefound in a Japanese Government Study of 14,115 children.However,it showed a marked increase at 1 month afterbirth.The discrepancy reached a peak at 6 months,whilethe difference became smaller at 12 months.Body length