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
Observational Study
. 2018 Jun 8;8(1):115.
doi: 10.1038/s41398-018-0156-0.

Elevated protein concentrations in newborn blood and the risks of autism spectrum disorder, and of social impairment, at age 10 years among infants born before the 28th week of gestation

Collaborators, Affiliations
Observational Study

Elevated protein concentrations in newborn blood and the risks of autism spectrum disorder, and of social impairment, at age 10 years among infants born before the 28th week of gestation

Steven J Korzeniewski et al. Transl Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Among the 1 of 10 children who are born preterm annually in the United States, 6% are born before the third trimester. Among children who survive birth before the 28th week of gestation, the risks of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and non-autistic social impairment are severalfold higher than in the general population. We examined the relationship between top quartile inflammation-related protein concentrations among children born extremely preterm and ASD or, separately, a high score on the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS total score ≥65) among those who did not meet ASD criteria, using information only from the subset of children whose DAS-II verbal or non-verbal IQ was ≥70, who were assessed for ASD, and who had proteins measured in blood collected on ≥2 days (N = 763). ASD (N = 36) assessed at age 10 years is associated with recurrent top quartile concentrations of inflammation-related proteins during the first post-natal month (e.g., SAA odds ratio (OR); 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.5; 1.2-5.3) and IL-6 (OR; 95% CI: 2.6; 1.03-6.4)). Top quartile concentrations of neurotrophic proteins appear to moderate the increased risk of ASD associated with repeated top quartile concentrations of inflammation-related proteins. High (top quartile) concentrations of SAA are associated with elevated risk of ASD (2.8; 1.2-6.7) when Ang-1 concentrations are below the top quartile, but not when Ang-1 concentrations are high (1.3; 0.3-5.8). Similarly, high concentrations of TNF-α are associated with heightened risk of SRS-defined social impairment (N = 130) (2.0; 1.1-3.8) when ANG-1 concentrations are not high, but not when ANG-1 concentrations are elevated (0.5; 0.1-4.2).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Joseph RM, et al. Extremely low gestational age and very low birthweight for gestational age are risk factors for autism spectrum disorder in a large cohort study of 10-year-old children born at 23-27 weeks’ gestation. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2017;216:304.e1–304.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2016.11.1009. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lyall K, et al. The changing epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders. Annu. Rev. Public Health. 2017;38:81–102. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031816-044318. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gardner F, et al. Behavioral and emotional adjustment of teenagers in mainstream school who were born before 29 weeks’ gestation. Pediatrics. 2004;114:676–682. doi: 10.1542/peds.2003-0763-L. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ritchie K, Bora S, Woodward LJ. Social development of children born very preterm: a systematic review. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 2015;57:899–918. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.12783. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Constantino JN, Gruber CP. Social Responsiveness Scale, Second Edition (SRS-2) Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services; 2012.

Publication types