Maternal Obesity May Increase Risk for Autism

To examine whether metabolic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, and obesity) during pregnancy are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in children, researchers in California performed a population-based, case-control study of children aged 2 to 5 years with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; 517 children), developmental delay without ASD (172 children), or with typical development (315 controls from the general population matched to the ASD group for age and sex). Maternal demographic and medical information was obtained from medical records, structured interviews, and an environmental exposure questionnaire. Validated instruments were used to diagnose ASD and developmental delay. Children with major motor and sensory impairments (blindness or deafness) were excluded.

All three metabolic conditions were more prevalent in case mothers than in control mothers. In analyses adjusted for covariates, mothers with diabetes were 2.3 times more likely than control mothers to have a child with developmental delay but were not significantly more likely to have a child with ASD. However, obese mothers (prepregnancy body-mass index >30 kg/m²) were 2 times more likely than control mothers to have a child with developmental delay and 1.7 times more likely to have a child with autism. Maternal diabetes was associated with greater deficits in expressive language among children with and without ASD.