Autistic People's Perinatal Experiences I: A Survey of Pregnancy Experiences.

The sample was recruited through autism databases, support groups and social media, so it may not represent all autistic parents. Many autistic participants did not have a formal diagnosis at the time of pregnancy, and experiences may differ by diagnosis status. The survey may not have been accessible to people with intellectual disability. The study did not compare autistic parents with parents with other disabilities or mental health conditions, so some difficulties may be common to disabled parents rather than autism-specific. The sample was mostly white and from western countries, so findings may not transfer to other populations or healthcare systems. Participants often reported on pregnancies several years earlier, and self-report and recall may be unreliable; medical records and professional perspectives were not used. Groups differed on age, country, gender identity, income, partner status, psychiatric conditions and timing of birth, which may influence some differences. Many analyses used self-report items and multiple comparisons, and no treatment or adjustment was tested, so the paper cannot show that accommodations improve care.

Funding was provided by the Medical Research Council, Pinsent Darwin Fund, Sackler Fund, Autism Research Trust and Wellcome Trust. No author conflict-of-interest statement is given in the supplied text.

Do not read these differences as proof that autism causes pregnancy difficulties or that the suggested adjustments will improve care. This is a retrospective self-report survey, not a treatment trial, and the groups differed on several background characteristics.