TY - JOUR
T1 - Prenatal maternal infections and children’s neurodevelopment in the UK Millennium Cohort Study
T2 - A focus on ASD and ADHD
AU - Hall, Hildigunnur Anna
AU - Speyer, Lydia Gabriela
AU - Murray, Aja Louise
AU - Auyeung, Bonnie
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors have been supported by the following bodies throughout the course of this project: UK Economic and Social Research Council via the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (ES/R500938/1) (HAH); University of Edinburgh Principal’s Career Development Scholarship (LGS); European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No.813546, and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ES/N018877/1) (BA). ALM has no funding to declare for this project.
PY - 2021/5/19
Y1 - 2021/5/19
N2 - Objective: No clear answer has yet been attained as to the influence of prenatal exposure to infection on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), either alone or as co-occurring issues. The current study examined links between hospital-recorded and maternal-reported prenatal infections and ASD, ADHD, and co-occurring ASD and ADHD. Methods: Participants were n = 15,462 children and mother pairs from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a population-representative UK sample. Results: Findings show associations between maternal-reported infections and ASD, and some evidence of links with ADHD and co-occurring ASD and ADHD. Hospital-recorded infections were not found to be associated with ASD, ADHD, or their co-occurrence. Agreement between hospital-recorded and maternal-reported infections was low, which may explain the discrepant findings. Conclusion: Prenatal maternal infections may be associated with increased odds of ASD and ADHD. Findings point to the importance of drawing on multiple sources of information when ascertaining prenatal infection status.
AB - Objective: No clear answer has yet been attained as to the influence of prenatal exposure to infection on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), either alone or as co-occurring issues. The current study examined links between hospital-recorded and maternal-reported prenatal infections and ASD, ADHD, and co-occurring ASD and ADHD. Methods: Participants were n = 15,462 children and mother pairs from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a population-representative UK sample. Results: Findings show associations between maternal-reported infections and ASD, and some evidence of links with ADHD and co-occurring ASD and ADHD. Hospital-recorded infections were not found to be associated with ASD, ADHD, or their co-occurrence. Agreement between hospital-recorded and maternal-reported infections was low, which may explain the discrepant findings. Conclusion: Prenatal maternal infections may be associated with increased odds of ASD and ADHD. Findings point to the importance of drawing on multiple sources of information when ascertaining prenatal infection status.
KW - attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
KW - autism spectrum disorders
KW - pregnancy
U2 - 10.1177/10870547211015422
DO - 10.1177/10870547211015422
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106302504
SN - 1087-0547
JO - Journal of Attention Disorders
JF - Journal of Attention Disorders
ER -