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Study links maternal obesity and autism
Don't shoot the messenger! I know I missed some pretty long threads about weight last week. I believe Pediatrics is a pretty reputable journal, as well.
Here's a link to the paper published in Pediatrics - I think it should work. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/04/04/peds.2011-2583.full.pdf+html
Could autism be linked with mothers? obesity during pregnancy? Study says it could be a factor
By Associated Press, Published: April 8 | Updated: Monday, April 9, 12:56 AM
CHICAGO ? Obesity during pregnancy may increase chances for having a child with autism, provocative new research suggests.
It?s among the first studies linking the two, and though it doesn?t prove obesity causes autism, the authors say their results raise public health concerns because of the high level of obesity in this country.
Study women who were obese during pregnancy were about 67 percent more likely than normal-weight women to have autistic children. They also faced double the risk of having children with other developmental delays.
On average, women face a 1 in 88 chance of having a child with autism; the results suggest that obesity during pregnancy would increase that to a 1 in 53 chance, the authors said.
The study was released online Monday in Pediatrics.
Since more than one-third of U.S. women of child-bearing age are obese, the results are potentially worrisome and add yet another incentive for maintaining a normal weight, said researcher Paula Krakowiak, a study co-author and scientist at the University of California, Davis.
Previous research has linked obesity during pregnancy with stillbirths, preterm births and some birth defects.
Dr. Daniel Coury, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Nationwide Children?s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said the results ?raise quite a concern.?
He noted that U.S. autism rates have increased along with obesity rates and said the research suggests that may be more than a coincidence.
More research is needed to confirm the results. But if mothers? obesity is truly related to autism, it would be only one of many contributing factors, said Coury, who was not involved in the study.
Genetics has been linked to autism, and scientists are examining whether mothers? illnesses and use of certain medicines during pregnancy might also play a role.
The study involved about 1,000 California children, ages 2 to 5. Nearly 700 had autism or other developmental delays, and 315 did not have those problems.
Mothers were asked about their health. Medical records were available for more than half the women and confirmed their conditions. It?s not clear how mothers? obesity might affect fetal development, but the authors offer some theories.
Obesity, generally about 35 pounds overweight, is linked with inflammation and sometimes elevated levels of blood sugar. Excess blood sugar and inflammation-related substances in a mother?s blood may reach the fetus and damage the developing brain, Krakowiak said.
The study lacks information on blood tests during pregnancy. There?s also no information on women?s diets and other habits during pregnancy that might have influenced fetal development.
There were no racial, ethnic, education or health insurance differences among mothers of autistic kids and those with unaffected children that might have influenced the results, the researchers said.
The National Institutes of Health helped pay for the study.
Re: Study links maternal obesity and autism
He noted that U.S. autism rates have increased along with obesity rates and said the research suggests that may be more than a coincidence.
The study lacks information on blood tests during pregnancy. There?s also no information on women?s diets and other habits during pregnancy that might have influenced fetal development.
I am not a scientist, but the whole "more people are obese and more kids are diagnosed with autism so there MAY be a connection" seems kind of tenuous.
Yeah, this definitely seems like a "correlation /= causation" sort of study. With more fat people around, there will be more fat people having autistic kids.
It does sound as though more research would be helpful, to say the least, but the WSJ article I linked in shadow's post expounds a bit more on the possible link:
How a mother's weight or metabolic disorders might contribute to autism or other problems isn't known. One possibility is that insulin resistance is involved, said Dr. Hertz-Picciotto.
When insulin isn't made or used properly by the body?as can be the case in some obese people?it alters how sugar, which serves as energy for the body, is produced and transported to tissues including the brain. Such disruption may have a particularly potent effect on fetal brains, which are known to need a lot of sugar.
So it could be a case of "people with diabetes have a higher risk of autistic kids." I'm overweight (not obese anymore by BMI! Booyah!) but have always been pretty healthy. Normal blood pressure, normal blood sugar, all that. What about mothers who get gestational diabetes? That's not always linked to weight.
So many studies have found "links" between autism and other random factors that I'd really like to see more research one way or the other, with a larger sample size.
Autism is so effing confusing, I'm certain there is not a single cause for all cases, so accordingly there will never be a single cure or preventative strategy. In our case, inheritance seems the obvious answer, as we suspect undiagnosed autism in several adults on DH's side.
Zeus and Bubba
i don't know that I buy this one. My sister was not overweight when she got pg with my nephew.... my grandmother was very petite and thin - my dad has asperger's, too.
here in NJ we have the highest rate of ASD --- but not the highest rate of obesity.... I do think it's a "more fat people = more that have autism" issue.... not that it causes it.
I can these making more sense than a link to vaccines at least.
The research goes on!
That seems like a stretch.
I agree, but I do think it's worth studying more. My non-scientist self thinks it makes perfect sense to conduct studies like this; since the incidence of autism has increased in the last 20 years, why not think about what else has increased during those 20 years? That would be quite a few things to study, but perhaps worth the effort.
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