Circumcision of tiny boys may trigger autism in some cases, researchers warn today.
A study in Denmark has found higher rates of autism among circumcised boys than those left intact.
Researchers say it is possible the pain and stress of the procedure can trigger autism – or aggravate it – in some cases.
The research involved more than 340,000 boys including 5,000 diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders.
Reporting in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the researchers say they found the link regardless of cultural background.
Researcher Professor Morten Frisch, of the Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, said: “Given the widespread practice of non-therapeutic circumcision in infancy and childhood around the world, our findings should prompt other researchers to examine the possibility that circumcision trauma in infancy or early childhood might carry an increased risk of serious neurodevelopmental and psychological consequences.
“Our investigation was prompted by the combination of recent animal findings linking a single painful injury to lifelong deficits in stress response and a study showing a strong, positive correlation between a country’s neonatal male circumcision rate and its prevalence of autistic spectrum disorder in boys.”
Ritual circumcision and risk of autism spectrum disorder in 0- to 9-year-old boys – national cohort study in Denmark JRSM 9 January 2015; doi: 10.1177/0141076814565942
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