Journal
MOLECULAR PSYCHIATRY
Volume 19, Issue 2, Pages 259-264Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/mp.2012.197
Keywords
Autism; prenatal; C-reactive protein; infection; inflammation; cytokines
Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [R01 ES019004-03]
- National Institute of Mental Health [K02 MH065422-09]
- Autism Speaks
- State Research Institute (National Institute of Health and Welfare)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Autism is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome with a largely unknown etiology. Inflammation during pregnancy may represent a common pathway by which infections and other insults increase risk for the disorder. Hence, we investigated the association between early gestational C-reactive protein (CRP), an established inflammatory biomarker, prospectively assayed in maternal sera, and childhood autism in a large national birth cohort with an extensive serum biobank. Other strengths of the cohort included nearly complete ascertainment of pregnancies in Finland (N = 1.2 million) over the study period and national psychiatric registries consisting of virtually all treated autism cases in the population. Increasing maternal CRP levels, classified as a continuous variable, were significantly associated with autism in offspring. For maternal CRP levels in the highest quintile, compared with the lowest quintile, there was a significant, 43% elevated risk. This finding suggests that maternal inflammation may have a significant role in autism, with possible implications for identifying preventive strategies and pathogenic mechanisms in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available