TY - JOUR
T1 - Air toxics in relation to autism diagnosis, phenotype, and severity in a U.S. family-based study
AU - Kalkbrenner, Amy E.
AU - Windham, Gayle C.
AU - Zheng, Cheng
AU - McConnell, Rob
AU - Lee, Nora L.
AU - Schauer, James J.
AU - Thayer, Brian
AU - Pandey, Juhi
AU - Volk, Heather E.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank A. Grubesic for assistance in linking to census variables. Funding was provided by Autism Speaks grants 7785 (H.E.V.), 7937 (A.E.K.), and 7939 (G.C.W.). We acknowledge support from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) and Autism Speaks. We gratefully acknowledge the resources provided by the AGRE consortium and the participating AGRE families. AGRE is a program of Autism Speaks and is supported, in part, by grant 1U24MH081810 from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health to C.M. Lajonchere.
Funding Information:
We thank A. Grubesic for assistance in linking to census variables. Funding was provided by Autism Speaks grants 7785 (H.E.V.), 7937 (A.E.K.), and 7939 (G.C.W.). We acknowledge support from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) and Autism Speaks. We gratefully acknowledge the resources provided by the AGRE consortium and the participating AGRE families. AGRE is a program of Autism Speaks and is supported, in part, by grant 1U24MH081810 from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health to C.M. Lajonchere. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the California Department of Public Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Public Health Services, US Dept of Health and Human Services. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/3
Y1 - 2018/3
N2 - 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 emis-sions-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, 4,40 -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 disul-fide 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.
AB - 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 emis-sions-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, 4,40 -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 disul-fide 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.
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U2 - 10.1289/EHP1867
DO - 10.1289/EHP1867
M3 - Article
C2 - 29553459
AN - SCOPUS:85045025641
SN - 0091-6765
VL - 126
JO - Environmental health perspectives
JF - Environmental health perspectives
IS - 3
M1 - 037004
ER -