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Fertility Therapies, Infertility and Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Nurses' Health Study II.
- Source :
-
Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology . Jul2012, Vol. 26 Issue 4, p361-372. 12p. 1 Diagram, 4 Charts. - Publication Year :
- 2012
-
Abstract
- Background: An increasing number of women are utilizing fertility treatments, but little is known about their relation to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods: To determine the association between maternal fertility therapy use and risk of having a child with ASD, we conducted a nested case-control study within the Nurses' Health Study II (n = 116,430). Maternally reported diagnoses of ASD were confirmed through a supplementary questionnaire and, in a subgroup, the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised. Controls were randomly selected by frequency matching to case children's year of birth. Associations were examined by self-reported infertility and type of therapy using conditional logistic regression. Results: In all, 9% of the 507 cases and 7% of 2,529 controls indicated fertility therapy use for the index pregnancy. No significant associations with self-reported fertility therapies or history of infertility were seen in primary analyses. In subgroup analyses of women with maternal age ≥35 years (n = 1,020), artificial insemination was significantly associated with ASD; ovulation inducing drug (OID) use was significantly associated in crude but not adjusted analyses (odds ratio 1.81, 95% CI 0.96-3.42). Results were similar by diagnostic subgroup, though within the advanced maternal age group, OID and artificial insemination were significantly associated with Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not-otherwise specified, but not autistic disorder. Conculsion: Assisted reproductive therapy and history of infertility did not increase risk of having a child with ASD in this study. However, the associations observed with OID and artificial insemination among older mothers, for whom these exposures are more common, warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02695022
- Volume :
- 26
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 76458134
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3016.2012.01294.x