Exploring the relation between prenatal and neonatal complications and later autistic-like features in a
Angelica Ronald1, Francesca Happé, Katharina Dworzynski
1Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, School of Psychology, Birkbeck College, King's College London, London, UK. a.ronald@bbk.ac.uk
Insights
Prenatal and neonatal events showed weak links to autistic-like features in twins. Environmental and genetic factors, not birth events, appear to influence these traits more significantly.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Behavioral Genetics
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research often explores early life factors.
- Understanding the origins of autistic traits is crucial for early intervention.
- Twin studies provide a unique model for disentangling genetic and environmental influences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between prenatal and neonatal events and autistic-like features in a large twin cohort.
- To determine the heritability and environmental contributions to neonatal problems.
- To explore if differences in neonatal problems between identical twins correlate with differences in autistic traits.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from the Twins Early Development Study (N=13,690 eighteen-month-old twins).
- Collected parent-reported prenatal/neonatal events and parent/teacher questionnaires on autistic-like features at ages 7-8.
- Employed correlation analyses and heritability estimates, controlling for socioeconomic status and cognitive ability.
Main Results:
- Weak correlations (r=0.00-0.07) were found between prenatal/neonatal events and autistic-like features.
- Neonatal problems exhibited modest heritability (13%-14%) with substantial shared (55%-59%) and nonshared (28%-31%) environmental influences.
- Differences in neonatal problems between identical twins showed weak correlations with their autistic feature differences (r=0.01-0.06).
Conclusions:
- Prenatal and neonatal events are unlikely to be major direct contributors to autistic-like features.
- Genetic and environmental factors play a more significant role in the development of these traits.
- Further research should focus on other etiological pathways for autistic traits.
Abstract:
Prenatal and neonatal events were reported by parents of 13,690 eighteen-month-old twins enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study, a representative community sample born in England and Wales. At ages 7-8, parents and teachers completed questionnaires on social and nonsocial autistic-like features and parents completed the Childhood Asperger Syndrome Test. Correlations between prenatal and neonatal events and autistic-like features were weak, both in the whole sample (r = .00-.07) and at the 5% quantitative extreme (phenotypic group correlations = .01-.11), after controlling for socioeconomic status and cognitive ability. Neonatal problems showed modest heritability (13%-14%) and significant shared and nonshared environmental influences (55%-59% and 28%-31%, respectively). Differences in identical twins' neonatal problems correlated weakly with their difference scores on autistic-like features (r = .01-.06).
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