Family history of immune conditions and autism spectrum and developmental disorders: Findings from the study to explore early development.
Lisa A Croen, Yinge Qian, Paul Ashwood and 6 others
PMID 30095240WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers with asthma or eczema/psoriasis during pregnancy were more likely to have children with ASD or other developmental disorders than general-population controls.
Children with ASD were also more likely to have eczema/psoriasis or allergy history. Maternal allergies were not linked.
Key findings
01After adjustment, odds of ASD were between 20% and 30% higher among women with any autoimmune condition, eczema/psoriasis, or asthma compared with general-population controls, but not among women with allergies.
02Lifetime maternal history of eczema/psoriasis and asthma, but not allergy, was associated with 20% to 36% higher odds of ASD and DD; paternal and family history were not associated.
03History of eczema/psoriasis or allergy in the index child was associated with 37% to 48% higher odds of ASD, but not DD.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
Most autoimmune conditions were too rare in this sample to analyse specific diseases separately. The study did not know whether maternal immune conditions were active, flaring, dormant, or how severe, except whether medication was used. Asthma medication type was missing for most women, so treatment effects and disease severity could not be fully separated. Many comparisons were made, so some significant findings could be due to chance. Maternal allergy was common and broadly defined, so the null allergy finding may not apply to specific allergy types. Families who did not respond differed by maternal age, education, and race-ethnicity, although analyses adjusted for these factors.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflict of interest to declare.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read maternal asthma or eczema/psoriasis as a cause of autism. The study is observational, the associations are modest, and it did not test whether treating these conditions changes risk.