« Previous AbstractEnvironmental chemical exposures and autism spectrum disorders: a review of the epidemiological evidence    Next AbstractDetection of secreted peptides by using hypothesis-driven multistage mass spectrometry »

Environ Health Perspect

Title:		"Air Toxics in Relation to Autism Diagnosis, Phenotype, and Severity in a U.S. Family-Based Study"
Author(s):		Kalkbrenner AE; Windham GC; Zheng C; McConnell R; Lee NL; Schauer JJ; Thayer B; Pandey J; Volk HE;
Address:		"Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, California, USA. Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA"
Journal Title:		Environ Health Perspect
Year:		2018
Volume:		20180312
Issue:		3
Page Number:		37004 -
DOI:		10.1289/EHP1867
ISSN/ISBN:		1552-9924 (Electronic) 0091-6765 (Print) 0091-6765 (Linking)
Abstract:		"BACKGROUND: Previous studies have reported associations of perinatal exposure to air toxics, including some metals and volatile organic compounds, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to further explore associations of perinatal air toxics with ASD and associated quantitative traits in high-risk multiplex families. METHODS: We included participants of a U.S. family-based study [the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE)] who were born between 1994 and 2007 and had address information. We assessed associations between average annual concentrations at birth for each of 155 air toxics from the U.S. EPA emissions-based National-scale Air Toxics Assessment and a) ASD diagnosis (1,540 cases and 477 controls); b) a continuous measure of autism-related traits, the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS, among 1,272 cases and controls); and c) a measure of autism severity, the Calibrated Severity Score (among 1,380 cases). In addition to the individual's air toxic level, mixed models (clustering on family) included the family mean air toxic level, birth year, and census covariates, with consideration of the false discovery rate. RESULTS: ASD diagnosis was positively associated with propionaldehyde, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), bromoform, 1,4-dioxane, dibenzofurans, and glycol ethers and was inversely associated with 1,4-dichlorobenzene, 4,4'-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI), benzidine, and ethyl carbamate (urethane). These associations were robust to adjustment in two-pollutant models. Autism severity was associated positively with carbon disulfide and chlorobenzene, and negatively with 1,4-dichlorobenzene. There were no associations with the SRS. CONCLUSIONS: Some air toxics were associated with ASD risk and severity, including some traffic-related air pollutants and newly-reported associations, but other previously reported associations with metals and volatile organic compounds were not reproducible. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1867"
Keywords:		Air Pollutants/toxicity Aldehydes Autism Spectrum Disorder/epidemiology/genetics Autistic Disorder/*epidemiology/etiology Benzidines/toxicity Chlorobenzenes/toxicity Dioxanes/toxicity Environmental Exposure/adverse effects Female Humans Male Methyl Ethers;
Notes:		"MedlineKalkbrenner, Amy E Windham, Gayle C Zheng, Cheng McConnell, Rob Lee, Nora L Schauer, James J Thayer, Brian Pandey, Juhi Volk, Heather E eng P30 ES007048/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ U24 MH081810/MH/NIMH NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2018/03/20 Environ Health Perspect. 2018 Mar 12; 126(3):037004. doi: 10.1289/EHP1867"