You see, I have wondered this; I spent my first seven months in nICU. I had Necrotizing entercolitis (spelling could be wrong), and could not eat anything through mouth until I was three. I was a preemie. I have had many other surgeries, long hospital stays (stays of three months or longer were common; I had at least one such stay almost every year of my childhood), etc, that have probably attributed to my ASD, ADHD, and PTSD. I'm in the hospital now (been here since Aug 7 - still one more surgery to go before I can go home), and yes, I hate it, but what can I do? I don't usually believe studies, as most of them are biased, but this would not surprise me. Although I have nephews and cousins who didn't spend time in hospitals but have ASD. It runs on my mother's side (others have ADHD - that's my dad's side).