Cromie, KJ orcid.org/0000-0002-2859-5291, Threapleton, DE orcid.org/0000-0002-5884-3372, Snart, CJP et al. (20 more authors) (2020) Maternal iodine status in a multi-ethnic UK birth cohort: associations with autism spectrum disorder. BMC Pediatrics, 20 (1). 544. ISSN 1471-2431
Abstract
Background
Maternal iodine requirements increase during pregnancy to supply thyroid hormones essential for fetal brain development. Maternal iodine deficiency can lead to hypothyroxinemia, a reduced fetal supply of thyroid hormones which, in the first trimester, has been linked to an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the child. No study to date has explored the direct link between maternal iodine deficiency and diagnosis of ASD in offspring.
Methods
Urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) and iodine/creatinine ratios (I:Cr) were measured in 6955 mothers at 26–28 weeks gestation participating in the Born in Bradford (BiB) cohort. Maternal iodine status was examined in relation to the probability of a Read (CTV3) code for autism being present in a child’s primary care records through a series of logistic regression models with restricted cubic splines.
Results
Median (inter-quartile range) UIC was 76 μg/L (46, 120) and I:Cr was 83 μg/g (59, 121) indicating a deficient population according to WHO guidelines. Ninety two children (1·3%) in our cohort had received a diagnosis of ASD by the census date. Overall, there was no evidence to support an association between I:Cr or UIC and ASD risk in children aged 8–12 years (p = 0·3).
Conclusions
There was no evidence of an increased clinical ASD risk in children born to mothers with mild-to-moderate iodine deficiency at 26 weeks gestation. Alternative functional biomarkers of exposure and a wider range of conditions may provide further insight.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s). 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Autism spectrum disorder; Iodine; Deficiency; Fetal development; Thyroid; Pregnancy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Food Science and Nutrition (Leeds) > FSN Nutrition and Public Health (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM) > Clinical & Population Science Dept (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) > Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM) > Discovery & Translational Science Dept (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Department of Health PR-R10-0514-11004 MRC (Medical Research Council) Not Known NIHR National Inst Health Research Not Known Cerebra - Foundation for the Brain No Ext Ref Given Cerebra - Foundation for the Brain NO EXT REF STATED |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 24 Nov 2020 12:23 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:30 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMC |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/s12887-020-02440-y |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168256 |