Researchers of a new study are claiming that babies born prematurely show differences in brain connections that may put them more at risk of neurodevelopmental problems such as autism.
The study, carried out by scientists at King’s College London, looked at the brain scans of premature babies and compared them to those of full-term infants.
The researchers marked that, when the scans were compared, premature babies show less connectivity between the brain’s thalamus and regions of the cortex that support higher mental functions. The full-term babies, meanwhile, displayed a similar structure to that of adults.
The study, which was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, goes on to suggest that there is a strong link between premature birth and a higher risk of developing autism or ADHD.
Commenting on the findings, the study’s lead author Hilary Toulmin described the differences between being in the womb and a neonatal unit as ‘enormous’.
