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Maternal and Paternal Infertility Disorders and Treatments and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Findings from the Study to Explore Early Development

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Abstract

Previous studies of associations between ASD and conception using assisted reproductive technology (ART) are inconsistent and few studies have examined associations with other infertility treatments or infertility disorders. We examined associations between ASD and maternal/paternal infertility disorders and numerous maternal treatments among 1538 mother–child pairs in the Study to Explore Early Development, a population-based case-control study. ASD was associated with any female infertility diagnosis and several specific diagnoses: blocked tubes, endometriosis, uterine-factor infertility, and polycystic ovarian syndrome. Stratified analyses suggested associations were limited to/much stronger among second or later births. The findings were not explained by sociodemographic factors such as maternal age or education or multiple or preterm birth. ASD was not associated with ART or non-ART infertility treatments.

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Funding

This study was supported by six cooperative agreements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000180, Colorado Department of Public Health; Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000181, Kaiser Foundation Research Institute (CA); Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000182, University of Pennsylvania; Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000183, Johns Hopkins University; Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000184, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Cooperative Agreement Number U10DD000498, Michigan State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop E-86, 4770 Buford Hwy NE, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA

    Laura A. Schieve & Shericka Harris

  2. Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Carolyn Drews-Botsch

  3. Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Craig Newschaffer

  4. Gillings Scholl of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Julie Daniels

  5. Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Carolyn DiGuiseppi

  6. Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA

    Lisa A. Croen

  7. California Department of Public Health, Richmond, CA, 94804, USA

    Gayle C. Windham

Authors
  1. Laura A. Schieve
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  2. Carolyn Drews-Botsch
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  3. Shericka Harris
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  4. Craig Newschaffer
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  5. Julie Daniels
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  6. Carolyn DiGuiseppi
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  7. Lisa A. Croen
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  8. Gayle C. Windham
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Contributions

LAS made substantial contributions to acquisition of data, study conception and design, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article, revising the article critically for important intellectual content, and gave final approval of the version to be published. CD-B and SH made substantial contributions to study conception and design, analysis and interpretation of data, revising the article critically for important intellectual content, and gave final approval of the version to be published. CN, JD, CD, LAC, and GCW made substantial contributions to acquisition of data, study conception and design, interpretation of data, revising the article critically for important intellectual content, and gave final approval of the version to be published.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura A. Schieve.

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Conflict of interest

All authors report no conflict of interest for this study.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants in this study.

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The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Schieve, L.A., Drews-Botsch, C., Harris, S. et al. Maternal and Paternal Infertility Disorders and Treatments and Autism Spectrum Disorder: Findings from the Study to Explore Early Development. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 3994–4005 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3283-1

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