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Onset of Sepsis in First Week of Life Tied to Increased Likelihood of Autism Spectrum Disorder

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on June 24, 2025.

TUESDAY, June 24, 2025 -- Early-onset neonatal sepsis is associated with increased likelihood autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), although the association with ADHD is attenuated in sibling-matched analyses, according to a study published online June 18 in Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology.

Mads Andersen, from Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, and colleagues examined the association between early-onset neonatal infection and ADHD and ASD in a nationwide register-based cohort study involving near-term and term children born between 1997 and 2013, with follow-up to 2021. An early-onset infection was defined as an invasive bacterial infection occurring within the first week of life.

A total of 981,869 children were included in the study: 8,154 had sepsis and 152 had meningitis. Of these, only 257 and 32 had culture-positive sepsis and culture-positive meningitis, respectively. The researchers found that for children with sepsis, the incidence rate of ADHD and ASD was 4.5 and 3.3 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. There was an association seen for sepsis with increased adjusted likelihood of ADHD and ASD (hazard ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 1.28 [1.17 to 1.39] and 1.43 [1.30 to 1.58], respectively). The association with ADHD was attenuated in sibling-matched analyses (hazard ratio, 1.12; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.93 to 1.34). An association was also found between children with meningitis and increased likelihood of ADHD and ASD (incidence rate ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 1.77 [0.88 to 3.17] and 2.05 [0.89 to 4.04], respectively).

"Preventive measures directed towards bacterial infections in the first week of life may therefore not only reduce the immediate morbidity and mortality related to the infection, but also the long-term likelihood of ASD," the authors write. "However, such preventive strategies may not reduce the likelihood of ADHD."

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted June 2025

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