Proximity of Maternal Time of Immigration to Child's Birth Is Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorder With Early Learning Delay Among Immigrant Populations in the United States: Findings From the Study to Explore Early Development.
Kaylynn Aiona, Tessa Crume, Nuri Reyes and 6 others
PMID 41165176WHAT IT FOUND
For US-born children of a non-US-born mother, each year between arrival and birth was linked with lower odds of ASD with early learning delay and early learning delay alone, but not ASD alone.
Key findings
01Among children with a non-US-born mother or non-US-born mother and father, each additional year since US arrival was associated with 3% lower odds of ASD with early learning delay and 4% lower odds of early learning delay alone.
02There was no significant association between years since US arrival and ASD alone in the main models, and no significant association was observed for children with a non-US-born father only.
03After adjustment for maternal nutrition and sociodemographics, the association with ASD alone became statistically significant, while the associations with ASD with early learning delay and early learning delay alone remained consistent.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used early learning delay as a proxy for intellectual disability because the children were aged 2 to 5 years, so some children may be classified differently at older ages. It was a case-control association study, so it cannot show that maternal immigration timing caused ASD or early learning delay. Many exposures, including maternal BMI and pregnancy weight gain, were self-reported and could be affected by recall bias. The sample was limited to children born in the United States, living in study catchment areas, and able to communicate in English or Spanish, so it may not represent all US immigrant families. Missing data for pregnancy weight gain was above 10% and differed by outcome group. The sample size did not allow formal mediation analysis or assessment of ASD severity. The authors could not rule out limited sample size for detecting associations in the father-only subgroup. The study did not directly measure prenatal maternal stress, cumulative pre-migration exposures, or detailed migration experiences.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that maternal immigration increases risk of ASD or early learning delay. This is an observational case-control association, and the study used early learning delay as a proxy for intellectual disability, so it cannot establish cause or guide treatment decisions.
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