TY - JOUR
T1 - Air pollution exposure during pregnancy and childhood autistic traits in four European population-based cohort studies
T2 - The ESCAPE project
AU - Guxens, Mònica
AU - Ghassabian, Akhgar
AU - Gong, Tong
AU - Garcia-Esteban, Raquel
AU - Porta, Daniela
AU - Giorgis-Allemand, Lise
AU - Almqvist, Catarina
AU - Aranbarri, Aritz
AU - Beelen, Rob
AU - Badaloni, Chiara
AU - Cesaroni, Giulia
AU - De Nazelle, Audrey
AU - Estarlich, Marisa
AU - Forastiere, Francesco
AU - Forns, Joan
AU - Gehring, Ulrike
AU - Ibarluzea, Jesús
AU - Jaddoe, Vincent W.V.
AU - Korek, Michal
AU - Lichtenstein, Paul
AU - Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J.
AU - Rebagliato, Marisa
AU - Slama, Rémy
AU - Tiemeier, Henning
AU - Verhulst, Frank C.
AU - Volk, Heather E.
AU - Pershagen, Göran
AU - Brunekreef, Bert
AU - Sunyer, Jordi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Public Health Services, US Dept of Health and Human Services. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/1
Y1 - 2016/1
N2 - Background: Prenatal exposure to air pollutants has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder. Objectives: We aimed to assess whether prenatal air pollution exposure is associated with childhood autistic traits in the general population. Methods: Ours was a collaborative study of four European population-based birth/child cohorts- CATSS (Sweden), Generation R (the Netherlands), GASPII (Italy), and INMA (Spain). Nitrogen oxides (NO2, NOx) and particulate matter (PM) with diameters of ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), ≤ 10 03BCm (PM10), and between 2.5 and 10 μm (PMcoarse), and PM2.5 absorbance were estimated for birth addresses by land-use regression models based on monitoring campaigns performed between 2008 and 2011. Levels were extrapolated back in time to exact pregnancy periods. We quantitatively assessed autistic traits when the child was between 4 and 10 years of age. Children were classified with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range and within the clinical range using validated cut-offs. Adjusted cohort-specific effect estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: A total of 8,079 children were included. Prenatal air pollution exposure was not associated with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range (odds ratio = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.10 per each 10-μg/m3 increase in NO2 pregnancy levels). Similar results were observed in the different cohorts, for the other pollutants, and in assessments of children with autistic traits within the clinical range or children with autistic traits as a quantitative score. Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to NO2 and PM was not associated with autistic traits in children from 4 to 10 years of age in four European population-based birth/child cohort studies.
AB - Background: Prenatal exposure to air pollutants has been suggested as a possible etiologic factor for the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder. Objectives: We aimed to assess whether prenatal air pollution exposure is associated with childhood autistic traits in the general population. Methods: Ours was a collaborative study of four European population-based birth/child cohorts- CATSS (Sweden), Generation R (the Netherlands), GASPII (Italy), and INMA (Spain). Nitrogen oxides (NO2, NOx) and particulate matter (PM) with diameters of ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5), ≤ 10 03BCm (PM10), and between 2.5 and 10 μm (PMcoarse), and PM2.5 absorbance were estimated for birth addresses by land-use regression models based on monitoring campaigns performed between 2008 and 2011. Levels were extrapolated back in time to exact pregnancy periods. We quantitatively assessed autistic traits when the child was between 4 and 10 years of age. Children were classified with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range and within the clinical range using validated cut-offs. Adjusted cohort-specific effect estimates were combined using random-effects meta-analysis. Results: A total of 8,079 children were included. Prenatal air pollution exposure was not associated with autistic traits within the borderline/clinical range (odds ratio = 0.94; 95% CI: 0.81, 1.10 per each 10-μg/m3 increase in NO2 pregnancy levels). Similar results were observed in the different cohorts, for the other pollutants, and in assessments of children with autistic traits within the clinical range or children with autistic traits as a quantitative score. Conclusions: Prenatal exposure to NO2 and PM was not associated with autistic traits in children from 4 to 10 years of age in four European population-based birth/child cohort studies.
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U2 - 10.1289/ehp.1408483
DO - 10.1289/ehp.1408483
M3 - Article
C2 - 26068947
AN - SCOPUS:84952645702
SN - 0091-6765
VL - 124
SP - 133
EP - 140
JO - Environmental health perspectives
JF - Environmental health perspectives
IS - 1
ER -