Some fertility treatments may increase the risk of autism in children, a study has claimed.

Researchers from the Mount Sinai Hospital in the US and Karolinska Institute in Sweden, conducted a study of 1,08,548 boys, as boys have a higher risk of developing autism than girls.

They found that, in the case of progesterone hormone therapy, the odds of having a child on the autistic spectrum were 1.5 times higher than among those who did not undergo fertility treatments.

Progesterone is hormone needed for brain development.

There is a hypothesis that it activates a genetic mechanism for the development of autism. It was found that progesterone delivery before pregnancy may affect critical stages in foetal brain development, a news agency reported.

In recent years, efforts have been made to identify the environmental factors that influence the development of autism.