1. Examining the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and child autism traits: A multi‐cohort investigation in the environmental influences on child health outcome program.
- Author
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Nutor, Chaela, Dickerson, Aisha S., Hsu, Tingju, Al‐Jadiri, Aseel, Camargo, Carlos A., Schweitzer, Julie B., Shuster, Coral L., Karagas, Margaret R., Madan, Juliette C., Restrepo, Bibiana, Schmidt, Rebecca J., Lugo‐Candelas, Claudia, Neiderhiser, Jenae, Sathyanarayana, Sheela, Dunlop, Anne L., Brennan, Patricia A., Smith, PB, Newby, KL, Jacobson, LP, and Catellier, DJ
- Abstract
This study examined the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses and traits. A total sample of 11,570 children (ages 1–18; 53% male; 25% Hispanic; 60% White) from 34 cohorts of the National Institutes of Health‐funded environmental influences on child health outcomes consortium were included in analyses. Results from generalized linear mixed models replicated previous studies showing that associations between prenatal cannabis exposure and ASD traits in children are not significant when controlling for relevant covariates, particularly tobacco exposure. Child biological sex did not moderate the association between prenatal cannabis exposure and ASD. In a large sample and measuring ASD traits continuously, there was no evidence that prenatal cannabis exposure increases the risk for ASD. This work helps to clarify previous mixed findings by addressing concerns about statistical power and ASD measurement. Lay Summary: This study examined the relationship between prenatal cannabis exposure and autism traits. We found that there was no association between maternal cannabis use during pregnancy and child autism traits once potential confounds were controlled. Although there was no evidence that prenatal cannabis exposure increases the risk for autism traits, prenatal cannabis exposure may still be associated with other facets of child development and behavior that were outside of the scope of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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