The relationship between retrolental fibroplasia (RLF) and severe affect disturbances (often simulating autism) was investigated through the collection and analysis of data concerning 263 subjects born between 1939 and 1959 and blinded by RLF. The variables examined included prematurity (birth weight and length of gestation), duration and intensity of oxygenation, environmental conditions (sensory and maternal deprivation), the administration of medical agents, and characteristics of the parents (socio-economic status, intellectual level, emotional reactivity, and religious/ethnic lineage). Autistic symptomatology was found to be correlated with high birth weight (rather than low, as expected), long gestation (but also extreme prematurity), and parental intellectuality, but not with the other variables. Supplementary findings revealed that the extent of autistic symptomatology was correlated with the results of neurological examinations and the date of birth. These results are discussed and a multifactor theory of etiology is suggested.
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