Developmental vitamin D and autism spectrum disorders: findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort

Animal studies indicate that early life vitamin D is crucial for proper neurodevelopment. Few studies have examined whether maternal and neonatal vitamin D concentrations influence risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Participants were sampled from the Stockholm Youth Cohort, a register-based cohort in Sweden. Concentrations of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) were assessed from maternal and neonatal biosamples using a highly sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. The maternal sample consisted of 449 ASD cases and 574 controls, the neonatal sample: 1399 ASD cases and 1607 controls; and the paired maternal-neonatal sample: 340 ASD cases and 426 controls. Maternal 25OHD was not associated with child ASD in the overall sample. However, in Nordic-born mothers, maternal 25OHD insufficiency (25 − <50 nmol/L) at ~11 weeks gestation was associated with 1.58 times higher odds of ASD (95% CI: 1.00, 2.49) as compared with 25OHD sufficiency (≥50 nmol/L). Neonatal 25OHD < 25 nmol/L was associated with 1.33 times higher odds of ASD (95% CI: 1.02, 1.75) as compared with 25OHD ≥ 50 nmol/L. Sibling-matched control analyses indicated these associations were not likely due to familial confounding. Children with both maternal 25OHD and neonatal 25OHD below the median had 1.75 (95% CI: 1.08, 2.86) times the odds of ASD compared with children with maternal and neonatal 25OHD both below the median. Our results are consistent with an increasing body of evidence suggesting that vitamin D concentrations in early life may be associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders including ASD.