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Maternal Exposures Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Jamaican Children

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Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder with poorly understood etiology. Many maternal exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding potentially interfere with neurodevelopment. Using data from two age- and sex-matched case-control studies in Jamaica (n = 298 pairs), results of conditional logistic regression analyses suggest that maternal exposures to fever or infection (matched odds ratio (MOR) = 3.12, 95% CI 1.74–5.60), physical trauma (MOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.01–4.05), and oil-based paints (MOR 1.99, 95% CI 1.14–3.46) may be associated with ASD. Additionally, maternal exposure to oil-based paints may modify the relationship between maternal exposure to pesticides and ASD, which deepens our understanding of the association between pesticides and ASD.

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Acknowledgments

This research is co-funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center (NIH-FIC) by a grant (R21HD057808) as well as National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) by a grant (R01ES022165) awarded to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. We also acknowledge the support provided by the Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Research Design (BERD) component of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) for this project. CCTS is mainly funded by the NIH Centers for Translational Science Award (NIH CTSA) grant (UL1 RR024148), awarded to The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in 2006 by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and its renewal (UL1 TR000371) by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NICHD or the NIH-FIC or NIEHS or the NCRR or the NCATS. This manuscript was prepared from the Master’s thesis completed by MacKinsey A. Christian.

Author Contributions

MAC was primarily responsible for analyzing the data, interpreting the findings, and drafting the manuscript. MHR is Principal Investigator (PI) of the ERAJ and ERAJ-2 studies from which these data originated and is responsible for designing and obtaining funding for these studies. MHR also served as chair of MAC’s thesis committee, and participated in interpreting the findings and revising the manuscript. MSV is co-investigator and PI of subcontract to the UWI for the ERAJ and ERAJ-2 studies and is responsible for designing the study and providing oversight to our study team in Jamaica. MSV also participated in revising the manuscript. MLG served on MAC’s thesis committee and participated in interpreting the findings and revising the manuscript. JB, KAL, and EB are co-Investigators of the ERAJ and ERAJ-2 studies who contributed to study design and participated in revising the manuscript. MH is responsible for data management of the ERAJ and ERAJ-2 studies and participated in revising the manuscript. MLG contributed to study design and participated in revising the manuscript. SSP is responsible for data collection and participated in revising the manuscript. CCD is responsible for coordinating study activities in Jamaica and participated in revising the manuscript. JAR is responsible for data entry and participated in revising the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    MacKinsey A. Christian & Mohammad H. Rahbar

  2. Biostatistics/Epidemiology/Research Design (BERD) core, Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS), The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    MacKinsey A. Christian, MinJae Lee, Manouchehr Hessabi & Mohammad H. Rahbar

  3. Department of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, Kingston, Jamaica

    Maureen Samms-Vaughan, Sydonnie Shakespeare-Pellington, Charlene Coore Desai & Jody-Ann Reece

  4. Division of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Texas McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA

    MinJae Lee & Mohammad H. Rahbar

  5. Human Genetics Center, Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Jan Bressler, Megan L. Grove & Eric Boerwinkle

  6. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas McGovern Medical School, Houston, TX, USA

    Katherine A. Loveland

  7. Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Eric Boerwinkle

Authors
  1. MacKinsey A. Christian
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  2. Maureen Samms-Vaughan
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  3. MinJae Lee
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  4. Jan Bressler
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  5. Manouchehr Hessabi
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  6. Megan L. Grove
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  7. Sydonnie Shakespeare-Pellington
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  8. Charlene Coore Desai
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  9. Jody-Ann Reece
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  10. Katherine A. Loveland
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  11. Eric Boerwinkle
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  12. Mohammad H. Rahbar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohammad H. Rahbar.

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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 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Christian, M.A., Samms-Vaughan, M., Lee, M. et al. Maternal Exposures Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Jamaican Children. J Autism Dev Disord 48, 2766–2778 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3537-6

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