Table 4 Dose–response analysis of the association of maternal fever episodes and risk of ASD in offspring, any time during pregnancy and after 12 weeks of gestation to birth (N=79 109)a

From: Prenatal fever and autism risk

Exposure period

Number of fever episodes

ASD N (%)

Non-case N (%)

Crude analysis

Adjusted analysis b

    

OR

95% CI

P-value

aOR

95% CI

P-value

Any time during pregnancy

1–2

92 (19.41)

12 976 (16.50)

1.23

0.98

1.54

0.078

1.31

1.04

1.64

0.023

 

⩾3

6 (1.27)

533 (0.68)

1.95

0.87

4.39

0.107

2.15

0.95

4.84

0.066

After 12 weeks

1–2

81 (17.09)

11 477 (14.60)

1.22

0.96

1.55

0.111

1.30

1.02

1.66

0.033

 

⩾3

5 (1.05)

303 (0.39)

2.84

1.17

6.92

0.021

3.12

1.28

7.63

0.013

  1. Abbreviations: aOR, adjusted odds ratio; ASD, autism spectrum disorder; CI, confidence interval; OR, odds ratio.
  2. Key: bold text represents significant findings, P<0.05.
  3. aStudy population restricted to mothers responding to all three questionnaires (17-week prenatal, 30-week prenatal and 6-month postnatal); ASD, N=474; non-case, N=78 635.
  4. bAdjusted for: maternal age, smoking and parity; parental education; birth year.
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