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Prenatal and early postnatal air pollution exposure has been associated with adverse physical and developmental outcomes. To examine the potential link between air pollution exposure during pregnancy and autism in offspring, researchers in California retrospectively compared prenatal and perinatal distance from home residence to freeways among 304 preschool children with autism (diagnosed by standardized assessment methods) and 259 typically developing matched controls.
Maternal residence at time of delivery was significantly more likely to be near a freeway (≤309 meters) for children with autism than for controls (odds ratio, 1.86); the same was true for maternal residence during the third trimester (OR, 1.96). Living near other major roads…