This article was originally published here
Autism. 11 Jan 2022: 13623613211068223. doi: 10.1177/13623613211068223. Online ahead of print.
A growing body of evidence points to the contribution of early childhood environmental factors in autism spectrum disorders. We aim to report prospective associations between early childhood environmental factors and symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in children at age 2 years in a population-derived birth cohort, the Barwon Infant Study. Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder at age 2 strongly predicted diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder at age 4 (area under the curve = 0.93; 95% CI (0.82; 1 ,00)). After adjusting for sex and age of the child at the time of the behavioral assessment, markers of socioeconomic disadvantage, such as lower household income and single parent status; maternal health factors, including younger maternal age, pre-pregnancy maternal body mass index, higher gestational weight gain, and prenatal maternal stress; maternal lifestyle factors, such as prenatal exposure to alcohol and air pollutants, including particles
PMID:35012378 | DOI: 10.1177/13623613211068223