Prenatal Maternal Infections and Children's Neurodevelopment in the UK Millennium Cohort Study: A Focus on ASD and...

Area of Science:

• Neurodevelopmental disorders
• Epidemiology
• Maternal health

Background:

• The relationship between prenatal infection exposure and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remains unclear.
• Investigating this link is crucial for understanding potential environmental risk factors in early development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between prenatal infections (both hospital-recorded and maternal-reported) and the occurrence of ASD, ADHD, and co-occurring ASD and ADHD.
• To assess the reliability of different methods for identifying prenatal infections in epidemiological studies.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 15,462 mother-child pairs in the population-representative Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) in the UK.
• Analyzed associations between maternal-reported and hospital-recorded prenatal infections and diagnoses of ASD, ADHD, and co-occurring conditions.
• Assessed the agreement between maternal reports and hospital records for prenatal infections.

Main Results:

• Maternal-reported prenatal infections showed associations with ASD, and some evidence of links with ADHD and co-occurring ASD/ADHD.
• No significant associations were found between hospital-recorded prenatal infections and ASD, ADHD, or their co-occurrence.
• Low agreement was observed between hospital-recorded and maternal-reported infection data, potentially explaining the differing results.

Conclusions:

• Prenatal maternal infections may be associated with an increased likelihood of developing ASD and ADHD.
• Highlights the importance of using multiple data sources to accurately ascertain prenatal infection status in research.
• Suggests that maternal recall of infections may capture relevant exposures not always documented in hospital records.