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By Jenifer Goodwin HealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) — If a woman smokes duringpregnancy, it may increase her child's risk ofhigh-functioning autism, a new study suggests. But the raised risk was slight, experts said. And researchers foundno association between maternal smoking and more severe forms ofautism. What the findings suggest is that although autism spectrumdisorders share many of the same symptoms, subtypes of the disorderlikely have many different genetic and environmental causes thatvary from person to person and by type of autism, explained studyauthor Amy Kalkbrenner, an assistant professor in the University ofWisconsin-Milwaukee Zilber School of Public Health. "We know ‘autism spectrum disorders' is anumbrella term. What we're showing is the response to aenvironmental toxin may differ by the subtype of autism a childhas," Kalkbrenner said. The study was published online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives . Kalkbrenner and her colleagues examined data on maternal smokingfrom birth certificates of nearly 634,000 U.S. children born in 11states in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1998. That data was compared withinformation on 3,315 children aged 8 and under diagnosed with anautism spectrum disorder from the U.S. Centers for Disease Controland Prevention's Autism and Developmental DisabilitiesMonitoring Network. About 13 percent of the mothers smoked during pregnancy, and 11percent of the mothers of kids with an autism spectrum disordersmoked during pregnancy, the investigators found. According to the study, kids born to moms who smoked duringpregnancy had about a 25 percent increased risk of havinghigh-functioning autism, such as Asperger's syndrome.However, the results did not reach statistical significance. Nor was smoking a clear risk factor for autistic disorder (a moresevere form of autism). The researchers noted that the data used in the study mayunderestimate the true prevalence of autism spectrum disordersamong mothers who smoke because lower-income kids are less likelyto be identified as having autism, and lower-income mothers arealso more likely to smoke during pregnancy. When researchers did another statistical analysis that took intoaccount a suspected undercounting of kids with autism, the analysisdid suggest a statistically significant association between smokingand high-functioning autism in offspring. Alycia Halladay, director for environmental research for AutismSpeaks, said the research is consistent with prior studies thathave found either no association or only a mild association betweensmoking during pregnancy and autism in children. What'sinteresting about this paper is that it included data on largenumbers of kids, she added, and it hinted at differences in thecontributing factors for various types of autism spectrumdisorders. "It really supports the idea that there are multiple causesof autism, both genetic and environmental. When we talk aboutautism being one group or disorder, we really need to ensure wehave these groups as well-defined as possible," Halladaysaid. "This is a very heterogeneous disorder." There are multiple reasons why tobacco might raise the risk ofautism, Kalkbrenner noted. Tobacco can restrict oxygen flow to thebaby, while the nicotine is known to interact with the nervoussystem and cross the placenta into the developing fetus."There are many potential biological pathways for whichtobacco can harm the developing baby," she said. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that's characterizedby problems with social interaction, verbal and nonverbalcommunication and restricted interests and behaviors. An estimatedone in 88 U.S. children has the disorder, according to the CDC. More information The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more on autism. SOURCES: Amy Kalkbrenner, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor,epidemiology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Alycia Halladay,Ph.D., director, environmental research, Autism Speaks; April 25,2012, Environmental Health Perspectives , online Last Updated: May 04, 2012 Copyright 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Nickel Alloy Pipe Manufacturer , Stainless Steel U Bend Tube, and more. For more , please visit Duplex Stainless Steel Pipes today!
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