Objective To evaluate risk factors in autistic children and provide theoretical basis of prevention and early intervention for children with autism. Methods A total of 101 pairs of children autism vs.gender /age-matched control, were recruited for this study with a protocol that had been approved by the Ethical Committee of the Shanghai Children's Hospital.The autistic children fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of autism as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association.The risk factors were assessed with a self- administered questionnaire.T test and Chi-square test were used for the single factor analysis and Logistic regression was used for multifactor analysis. Results The factors in autistic children were significant following asmale(OR=10.640, P<0.01), no breastfeeding six months ago (OR=2.952, P<0.01), infectious disease during pregnancy (OR=2.042, P<0.01) having risk factors at birth(OR=1.189, P<0.01) and time that parents accompany the children >1 hour/d (OR=0.179, P<0.05). Conclusion It has found that male, infectious disease during pregnancy, no breastfeeding six months ago and having risk factors at birth are major risk factors for autism children, and time that parents accompany the children >1 hour/d is the protection factor for autistic children.