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Perinatal Factors Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Jamaican Children

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Abstract

Mode of delivery, preterm birth, and low birth weight (LBW) are hypothesized to be associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. Using data from 343 ASD cases (2–8 years) and their age- and sex-matched typically developing controls in Jamaica we investigated these hypotheses. Our statistical analyses revealed that the parish of residence could modify the association between cesarean delivery and ASD, with a difference found in this relationship in Kingston parish [matched odds ratio (MOR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) 2.30 (1.17–4.53)] and other parishes [MOR (95% CI) 0.87 (0.48–1.59)]. Although the associations of LBW and preterm birth with ASD were not significant, we observed a significant interaction between LBW and the household socioeconomic status. These findings require replication.

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Funding

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; PI: Rahbar), as well as by a grant (R01ES022165; PI: Rahbar) from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) 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 (UL1TR000371) 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.

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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, 77030, USA

    Sepideh Saroukhani, MacKinsey A. Bach, Jan Bressler, Megan L. Grove & 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, 77030, USA

    Sepideh Saroukhani, MinJae Lee, MacKinsey A. Bach, Manouchehr Hessabi & Mohammad H. Rahbar

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

    Maureen Samms-Vaughan & Sydonnie Shakespeare-Pellington

  4. Division of Clinical and Translational Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 6410 Fannin Street, UT Professional Building Suite 1100.05, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    MinJae Lee & Mohammad H. Rahbar

  5. Human Genetics Center, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Jan Bressler & Megan L. Grove

  6. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, 77054, USA

    Katherine A. Loveland

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  1. Sepideh Saroukhani
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  2. Maureen Samms-Vaughan
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  3. MinJae Lee
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  4. MacKinsey A. Bach
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  5. Jan Bressler
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  6. Manouchehr Hessabi
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  7. Megan L. Grove
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  8. Sydonnie Shakespeare-Pellington
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  9. Katherine A. Loveland
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  10. Mohammad H. Rahbar
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SS 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 SS’s MSc. Epidemiology 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. ML served on SS’s MSc. Epidemiology thesis committee and participated in interpreting the findings and revising the manuscript. JB and KL 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. MAB was responsible for coordinating study activities in Jamaica and participated in revising the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Mohammad H. Rahbar.

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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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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants or their parent/legal guardian included in the study.

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Saroukhani, S., Samms-Vaughan, M., Lee, M. et al. Perinatal Factors Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Jamaican Children. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 3341–3357 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04229-0

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