The Role of Prenatal, Obstetric and Neonatal Factors in the Development of Autism

Abstract

We conducted a linked database cohort study of infants born between 1990 and 2002 in Nova Scotia, Canada. Diagnoses of autism were identified from administrative databases with relevant diagnostic information to 2005. A factor representing genetic susceptibility was defined as having an affected sibling or a mother with a history of a psychiatric or neurologic condition. Among 129,733 children, there were 924 children with an autism diagnosis. The results suggest that among those with low genetic susceptibility, some maternal and obstetric factors may have an independent role in autism etiology whereas among genetically susceptible children, these factors appear to play a lesser role. The role of pre-pregnancy obesity and excessive weight gain during pregnancy on autism risk require further investigation.

The Association of Maternal Obesity and Diabetes With Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

“…6 However, whether and how the effects of GDM and PGDM differ is still debatable. Although the 2 studies differentiating PGDM and GDM in the meta-analysis both reported larger odds ratios (ORs) for PGDM than GDM, 15,16 Xiang et al 17 found that only GDM diagnosed before 26 weeks, but not GDM diagnosed 7…”

Environmental factors associated with autism spectrum disorder: a scoping review for the years 2003–2013

“…106,109,139,140 Two 141,142 of three cohort studies [141][142][143] found a significant association between either prepregnancy weight, pregnancy weight gain or early-life obesity and ASD. A 2009 metaanalysis found a positive association between maternal gestational diabetes and ASD.…”

“…A 2009 metaanalysis found a positive association between maternal gestational diabetes and ASD. 100 Since then, there have been conflicting findings, 102,124,139,141,144,145 although some of these studies did not differentiate between prepregnancy and gestational diabetes.…”

Birth Spacing and Risk of Autism and Other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities: A Systematic Review

“…A total of 12 studies (6 cohort, 5 cross-sectional, and 1 case-control), including 1 334 569 children, met the inclusion criteria. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] The individual characteristics and main findings of the studies included in the systematic review are shown in Table 1. Seven studies provided data on ASD, 28 …”

“…[28][29][30][31][32][33][34] Three studies showed a U-shaped association between IPI and the risk of ASD. 31,33,34 Six studies found a significant association between short IPIs (<12 months, 30,31,33 <18 months, 29 <24 months, 34 and <36 months 28 ) and increased risk of ASD.…”