Circumcision tied to autism risk: study

The New York Daily News reports:

Circumcision may be connected to a boy's chances of developing autism, according to a new study out of Denmark.

Boys under 5 who were circumcised were twice as likely to have autism as boys who weren't, according to a study of 340,000 Danish boys.

The reason for the correlation is not clear, but may be related to the agony of the procedure.

"The small child's pain could be significant to the later development of autism," study leader Morten Frisch, consultant and senior investigator in epidemiological research at Statens Serum Institut and adjunct professor of sexual health epidemiology at Aalborg University — both of which are in Denmark — told ScienceNordic.com.

Pain may indeed be the culprit. Prior research has found that premature babies who endure many painful examinations and spend their early days in intensive care "exhibit changes in pain behavior later in childhood, which is often seen in children with autism," Frisch added.

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