Maternal Vitamin D Levels During Pregnancy and Offspring Autism Spectrum Disorder
ARCHIVAL REPORT| VOLUME 90, ISSUE 11, P790-797, DEC 01, 2021 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.07.012
Items in both categories Autism and Intervention:
- Infants getting an additional 800 IU of vitamin D for 2 years had 60% fewer psychiatric symptoms at age 7 – RCT May 2023
- Autistic symptoms reduced by Vitamin D and or Omega-3 – RCT March 2019
- Autism risk reduced 2X by prenatal vitamins (Vitamin D or Folic) – Feb 2019
- Autistics have half of the response to Vitamin D – RCT Oct 2018
- Autism problems reduced by Vitamin D, Omega-3 – RCT Oct 2018
- Autism treated by Vitamin D (monthly injection of 150,000 IU) – June 2017
- Autism in children reduced by Vitamin D (used 300 IU per kg per day) – RCT Oct 2016
- Autism and Vitamin D massive review – latitude, season, migration, VitD levels and intervention – April 2016
- Autism rate in siblings reduced 4X by vitamin D: 5,000 IU during pregnancy, 1,000 IU to infants – Feb 2016
- Autism decreased in 8 out of 10 children supplemented with vitamin D – April 2015
- Autism cured in a child with Vitamin D, Dr. Cannell comments and cofactor recommendations – March 2015
Items in both categories Autism and Meta-analysis:
- Incidence Autism and ADHD reduced 18 percent per 10 ng of Vitamin D during pregnancy – meta-analysis Jan 2022
- Autism associated with low Vitamin D (again) – Meta-Analysis Jan 2021
- Autism 2X more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor (yet again) – meta-analysis Jan 2020
- Autism risk increased 30 percent by Cesareans (both low vitamin D) – meta-analysis Sept 2019
- Increased risk of ADHD (28 pct.) and Autism (58 pct.) if low vitamin D during pregnancy – meta-analysis Jan 2019
- Autism risk factors – many are associated with low vitamin D – meta-meta-analysis March 2017
- Autism is associated with low vitamin D – meta-analysis Oct 2015
Findings from previous studies on maternal 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring are inconsistent.
Methods
The association between maternal 25(OH)D levels during pregnancy and offspring ASD was examined using data from a nationwide population-based register with a nested case-control study design. The ASD cases (n = 1558) were born between 1987 and 2004 and received a diagnosis of ASD by 2015; cases were matched with an equal number of controls. Maternal 25(OH)D levels during pregnancy were measured using quantitative immunoassay from maternal sera collected during the first and early second trimesters and archived in the national biobank of the Finnish Maternity Cohort. Conditional logistic regression examined the association between maternal 25(OH)D levels and offspring ASD.
Results
In the adjusted model, there was a significant association between increasing log-transformed maternal 25(OH)D levels and decreasing risk of offspring ASD (adjusted odds ratio aOR 0.75, 95% confidence interval CI 0.62–0.92, p = .005). Analyses by quintiles of maternal 25(OH)D levels revealed increased odds for ASD in the 2 lowest quintiles, <20 (aOR 1.36, 95% CI 1.03–1.79, p = .02) and 20–39 (aOR 1.31, 95% CI 1.01–1.70, p = .04), compared with the highest quintile. The increased risk of ASD was observed in association with deficient (<30 nmol/L) (aOR 1.44, 95% CI 1.15–1.81, p = .001) and insufficient (30–49.9 nmol/L) maternal 25(OH)D levels (aOR 1.26, 95% CI 1.04–1.52, p = .01) compared with sufficient levels.
Conclusions
This finding has implications for understanding the role of maternal vitamin D during fetal brain development and increased risk of ASD.