Association of insecticide levels in pregnant women may provide biomarker evidence of a cause of autism according to a new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Elevated levels of a dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) metabolite in pregnant women provide the first biomarker evidence that the banned insecticide is implicated in autism in children, new research shows. "This study provides the first evidence, using a marker of an insecticide in the blood, that a pregnant mother's exposure to this organic pollutant is related to an increased risk of autism in her offspring. Previous studies were based, for example, on proximity to sites that were contaminated with these pollutants," according to lead investigator Alan S. Brown, MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.
The study was published online 16 August 2018 in the American Journal of Psychiatry. DDT and other organic pollutants were widely banned in many countries decades ago, but they persist in the food chain, leading to continuous exposure among populations. The chemicals transfer across the placenta, resulting in potential prenatal exposure. Using the Finnish Prenatal Study of Autism, a national birth cohort study, the researchers identified 778 children with autism born between 1987 and 2005 and a matched control group. Maternal serum specimens from early pregnancy were assayed for levels DDE (p,p'-dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethylene), a breakdown product of DDT. The odds of autism were nearly one third higher among offspring of mother's with DDE levels that were in the highest 75th percentile, after adjusting for maternal age, parity, and history of psychiatric disorders (odds ratio [OR], 1.32; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 - 1.71; P = .03).
See- "Association of Maternal Insecticide Levels With Autism in Offspring From a National Birth Cohort Alan S. Brown, M.D., M.P.H., Keely Cheslack-Post"- et al. Published Online:16 Aug 2018.
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