Features of the perinatal and thoracic periods in children with autism spectrum disorders

Background. Autism spectrum disorders are a pathology that is becoming increasingly widespread throughout the world, regardless of geographic, climatic, socioeconomic or other regional characteristics. Due to the wide spread of this pathology, early detection of disease predictors is of great importance. Competent observation by a local pediatrician in the first year of life is of great importance in the first determination of disease symptoms / identification of risk groups. However, clear predictors indicating the presence of pathology have not been developed due to the lack of an accurate understanding of the etiology, pathogenesis of autism and the diversity of the clinical signs. It is believed that the gastrointestinal tract, microbiota, food intolerance play a certain role in the development and severity of ASD, but further research is needed in this area. Materials and methods. The study included 138 children with autism spectrum disorders aged 3–15 years (Me 6 [4; 7.5]) and their parents. There were 91 boys and 47 girls. A thorough analysis of the obstetric history, the course of the intranatal and neonatal periods, the nature of feeding, the neuropsychic development of children in the first year of life, and the social and everyday aspects of family life was carried out. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive statistics methods. Results. The perinatal period of children with autism spectrum disorders does not differ significantly from the average data in the population. It was found that the assessment of emotional development is of great importance in monitoring children in the first year of life. Despite the fact that the examined patients did not have a clinically significant delay in neuropsychic development (more than 2 epicrisis periods), it is nevertheless noted that motor development was impaired less often than emotional, play and speech skills. Conclusions. Perinatal, social factors, the nature of feeding and past diseases do not affect the development of the disease. Among the assessment criteria in infancy, special attention should be paid to neuropsychic development, in particular emotional development and play activities.