Authors: Kristen Lyall David L Pauls Susan Santangelo Donna Spiegelman Alberto Ascherio
Publish Date: 2010/08/10
Volume: 41, Issue: 5, Pages: 618-627
Abstract
It is not known whether reproductive factors early in the mother’s life influence risk of autism spectrum disorders ASD We assessed maternal age at menarche menstrual cycle characteristics during adolescence oral contraceptive use prior to first birth body shape and body mass index BMI in association with ASD using binomial regression in a cohort study of 61596 women including 743 cases Overall early life factors were not associated with ASD though early age at menarche RR for age 10 or less = 154 95 CI 118 202 p = 00002 and BMI at age 18 of ≥30 RR 203 95 CI 134 308 p = 00008 were significantly associated with increased risk of ASD Further work should investigate the potential influence of these factorsThe Nurses’ Health Study II is an ongoing study conducted at the Channing Laboratory and affiliated with the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School The work reported in this manuscript was funded in part by CA50385 the main Nurses’ Health Study II grant 1788 from the Autism Speaks Foundation and A14917 from the US Army Medical Research and Material Command USAMRMC The funding organizations have reviewed and approved the design and conduct of the overall NHS II but were not involved in the collection management analysis or interpretation of the data nor were they involved in the preparation review or approval of this manuscript
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