TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal hospitalization with infection during pregnancy and risk of autism spectrum disorders
AU - Lee, Brian K.
AU - Magnusson, Cecilia
AU - Gardner, Renee M.
AU - Blomström, Åsa
AU - Newschaffer, Craig J.
AU - Burstyn, Igor
AU - Karlsson, Håkan
AU - Dalman, Christina
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by Autism Speaks Grant No. 7618 and Swedish Research Council grant 2012-2264 . The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - Animal models indicate that maternal infection during pregnancy can result in behavioral abnormalities and neuropathologies in offspring. We examined the association between maternal inpatient diagnosis with infection during pregnancy and risk of ASD in a Swedish nationwide register-based birth cohort born 1984-2007 with follow-up through 2011. In total, the sample consisted of 2,371,403 persons with 24,414 ASD cases. Infection during pregnancy was defined from ICD codes. In the sample, 903 mothers of ASD cases (3.7%) had an inpatient diagnosis of infection during pregnancy. Logistic regression models adjusted for a number of covariates yielded odds ratios indicating approximately a 30% increase in ASD risk associated with any inpatient diagnosis of infection. Timing of infection did not appear to influence risk in the total Swedish population, since elevated risk of ASD was associated with infection in all trimesters. In a subsample analysis, infections were associated with greater risk of ASD with intellectual disability than for ASD without intellectual disability. The present study adds to the growing body of evidence, encompassing both animal and human studies, that supports possible immune-mediated mechanisms underlying the etiology of ASD.
AB - Animal models indicate that maternal infection during pregnancy can result in behavioral abnormalities and neuropathologies in offspring. We examined the association between maternal inpatient diagnosis with infection during pregnancy and risk of ASD in a Swedish nationwide register-based birth cohort born 1984-2007 with follow-up through 2011. In total, the sample consisted of 2,371,403 persons with 24,414 ASD cases. Infection during pregnancy was defined from ICD codes. In the sample, 903 mothers of ASD cases (3.7%) had an inpatient diagnosis of infection during pregnancy. Logistic regression models adjusted for a number of covariates yielded odds ratios indicating approximately a 30% increase in ASD risk associated with any inpatient diagnosis of infection. Timing of infection did not appear to influence risk in the total Swedish population, since elevated risk of ASD was associated with infection in all trimesters. In a subsample analysis, infections were associated with greater risk of ASD with intellectual disability than for ASD without intellectual disability. The present study adds to the growing body of evidence, encompassing both animal and human studies, that supports possible immune-mediated mechanisms underlying the etiology of ASD.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.09.001
DO - 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.09.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 25218900
AN - SCOPUS:84918528757
SN - 0889-1591
VL - 44
SP - 100
EP - 105
JO - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
JF - Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
ER -