Newborn vitamin D levels in relation to autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disability: A case-control study in california.
Gayle C Windham, Michelle Pearl, Meredith C Anderson and 6 others
PMID 30883046WHAT IT FOUND
Newborn vitamin D levels showed no overall link to autism.
However, girls with higher levels had increased odds of autism and intellectual disability, while boys showed no such association. These sex-specific findings require confirmation in larger studies.
Key findings
01Total 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels did not vary significantly by case status for autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability compared to controls.
02Among females, higher newborn vitamin D levels were associated with increased odds of autism, whereas males showed slightly lower odds with higher levels.
03Girls who were vitamin D deficient at birth had statistically significantly lower odds of developing autism than girls with sufficient levels.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study population had higher average vitamin D levels than many other cohorts, which may limit the ability to detect effects driven by severe deficiency. Residual confounding from unmeasured factors like maternal BMI, diet, or medications cannot be ruled out. The sex-specific findings are novel and were not hypothesized, requiring replication in larger studies. The ID group was smaller than the ASD group, limiting power for sex interactions within that subgroup.
Declared interests
The study was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (N.I.H.). No commercial conflicts of interest are reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the increased odds of autism in girls with high vitamin D as evidence that supplementation is harmful. The overall study found no significant association between vitamin D levels and autism risk in the general population, and these sex-specific findings are exploratory and require further validation.