Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul;47(7):2067-2079.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3130-4.

Medical Conditions in the First Years of Life Associated with Future Diagnosis of ASD in Children

Stacey E Alexeeff  1 , Vincent Yau  2   3 , Yinge Qian  2 , Meghan Davignon  4 , Frances Lynch  5 , Phillip Crawford  5 , Robert Davis  6 , Lisa A Croen  2
Affiliations

Medical Conditions in the First Years of Life Associated with Future Diagnosis of ASD in Children

Stacey E Alexeeff et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

This study examines medical conditions diagnosed prior to the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using a matched case control design with 3911 ASD cases and 38,609 controls, we found that 38 out of 79 medical conditions were associated with increased ASD risk. Developmental delay, mental health, and neurology conditions had the strongest associations (ORs 2.0-23.3). Moderately strong associations were observed for nutrition, genetic, ear nose and throat, and sleep conditions (ORs 2.1-3.2). Using machine learning methods, we clustered children based on their medical conditions prior to ASD diagnosis and demonstrated ASD risk stratification. Our findings provide new evidence indicating that children with ASD have a disproportionate burden of certain medical conditions preceding ASD diagnosis.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Comorbidity; Medical conditions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

Each author declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

Medical research involving human subjects includes research on identifiable human material or identifiable data. All procedures performed in studies involving human subjects were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

This retrospective study of medical records data did not involve any participant contact.

References

    1. Agresti A, Kateri M. Categorical data analysis. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer; 2011.
    1. American Psychiatric Association . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.
    1. Atladottir HO, Thorsen P, Schendel DE, Ostergaard L, Lemcke S, Parner ET. Association of hospitalization for infection in childhood with diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders: A Danish cohort study. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 2010;164(5):470–477. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bauman ML. Medical comorbidities in autism: challenges to diagnosis and treatment. Neurotherapeutics: The Journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics. 2010;7(3):320–327. doi: 10.1016/j.nurt.2010.06.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Black C, Kaye JA, Jick H. Relation of childhood gastrointestinal disorders to autism: Nested case-control study using data from the UK general practice research database. Bmj. 2002;325(7361):419–421. doi: 10.1136/bmj.325.7361.419. - DOI - PMC - PubMed