Pregnancy Planning and its Association with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Findings from the Study to Explore Early...

Area of Science:

• Reproductive Health
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Perinatal Epidemiology

Background:

• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition.
• Understanding factors influencing ASD risk is crucial for early intervention.
• Pregnancy planning, a measure of reproductive intention, has been explored as a potential factor.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between pregnancy planning and the occurrence of ASD in offspring.
• To examine if this association differs across racial and ethnic groups.

Main Methods:

• A multi-site case-control study (Study to Explore Early Development - SEED) enrolled children with ASD, other developmental delays (DDs), and from the general population (POP).
• Mothers reported on pregnancy planning (intention to become pregnant).
• Logistic regression was used to compute adjusted odds ratios (aORs), stratifying by race-ethnicity.

Main Results:

• Among non-Hispanic White (NHW) mother-child pairs, pregnancy planning showed an inverse association with ASD (aOR=0.71) and ASD symptomatology (aOR=0.67).
• Pregnancy planning was less frequent in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic mothers.
• No significant association between pregnancy planning and ASD or ASD symptomatology was found in non-Hispanic Black or Hispanic mother-child pairs.

Conclusions:

• Pregnancy planning is inversely associated with ASD and ASD symptomatology in NHW mother-child dyads.
• This association in NHW mothers was not explained by maternal or perinatal health factors.
• The observed associations were specific to the NHW group and did not extend to other racial-ethnic groups.