An unexpected association between pregnancy spacing and autism
Autistic spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that is generally thought to have genetic origins. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that vaccination causes increased risk. However, non-genetic causes (other than vaccination) still might contribute to risk. We conducted an international study that demonstrates increased risks for both short and long interpregnancy intervals. There is strong evidence that there is an environmental cause of some kind. Whether the observed effects reflect pregnancy spacing alone remains unclear because of the large changes in estimates after control for potential confounders. The following figure shows the extent to which associations between interpregnancy intervals and autistic spectrum disorder changes after control for socioeconomic, psychiatric and latent (unobserved) confounders. An interpretation of this discovery is that the effects of short IPI have been overstated and demonstrates the relative importance of the effects of long IPI (possibly via biological aging). The media release is available here from 25th August 2021. The study is now published.
Source: Autism Research, 2021. 1– 12.
References
- Pereira, G., Francis, R. W., Gissler, M., Hansen, S. N., Kodesh, A., Leonard, H., Levine, S. Z., Mitter, V. R., Parner, E. T., Regan, A. K., Reichenberg, A., Sandin, S., Suominen, A., & Schendel, D. (2021). Optimal interpregnancy interval in autism spectrum disorder: A multi-national study of a modifiable risk factor. Autism Research, 1– 12.