My kids were all early, but only by a few weeks. However, I did have early contractions which with my last three, I needed medication to damp it down. I was on double the dose for difficult child 3 and he is the most autistic by far. But he was only a week early. But is this related? I just don't know.
There are so many possible factors, perhaps because autism isn't just one condition but perhaps a number of them. The brain is a complex organ, so many things can happen on a micro level which have a macro effect. I can also see a possible genetic link with other members of the family on both sides.
All research is interesting but I also read some of the comments beneath the article - some people just have no idea how to interpret reports like this. Although the researchers made it clear that the most that could be inferred from their work is that prematurity MAY be ONE possible LINK, people were saying, "My kids were premature and they're not autistic." And similar.
I think that's why we still have the arguments over vaccines, and many other things. In autism, there could be many possible causes, sometimes multiple factors including genetic. I know one girl who is functionally autistic after half her brain was irreversibly damaged in a car accident when she was a toddler. But her younger brother is Aspie. So what would she have been if not for the car accident? The mother doesn't know but always wonders.
Autism is a description. That's why it's called a spectrum disorder. The more information the better, but we can't look to applying that information until a great deal more work has been done.
Marg