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Developmental vitamin D and autism spectrum disorders: findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Developmental vitamin D and autism spectrum disorders: findings from the Stockholm Youth Cohort

Brian K. Lee, Darryl W. Eyles, Cecilia Magnusson, Craig J. Newschaffer, John J. McGrath, David Kvaskoff, Pauline Ko, Christina Dalman, Håkan Karlsson and Renee M. Gardner
Molecular psychiatry, v 26(5), pp 1578-1588
06 Nov 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-019-0578-y
PMID: 31695167
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-019-0578-yView
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY V4.0,  Open

Abstract

autism spectrum disorder child pregnancy Sweden vitamin D vitamins
Animal studies indicate that early life vitamin D is crucial for proper neurodevelopment. Few studies have examined whether maternal and neonatal vitamin D concentrations influence risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Participants were sampled from the Stockholm Youth Cohort, a register-based cohort in Sweden. Concentrations of total 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) were assessed from maternal and neonatal biosamples using a highly sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. The maternal sample consisted of 449 ASD cases and 574 controls, the neonatal sample: 1,399 ASD cases and 1,607 controls; and the paired maternal-neonatal sample: 340 ASD cases and 426 controls. Maternal 25OHD was not associated with child ASD in the overall sample. However, in Nordic-born mothers, maternal 25OHD insufficiency (25 - < 50 nmol/L) at approximately 11 weeks gestation was associated with 1.58 times higher odds of ASD (95% CI: 1.00, 2.49) as compared with 25OHD sufficiency (≥50 nmol/L). Neonatal 25OHD < 25 nmol/L was associated with 1.33 times higher odds of ASD (95% CI: 1.02, 1.75) as compared with 25OHD ≥50 nmol/L. Sibling-matched control analyses indicated these associations were not likely due to familial confounding. Children with both maternal 25OHD and neonatal 25OHD below the median had 1.75 (95% CI: 1.08, 2.86) times the odds of ASD compared to children with maternal and neonatal 25OHD both below the median. Our results are consistent with an increasing body of evidence suggesting that vitamin D concentrations in early life may be associated with increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders including ASD.

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