Parental Rheumatoid Arthritis and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

Ane Lilleøre Rom; Chun Sen Wu; Jørn Olsen; Damini Jawaheer; Merete Lund Hetland; Lina Steinrud Mørch

doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2017.10.002

Parental Rheumatoid Arthritis and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

Ane Lilleøre Rom^*, Chun Sen Wu, Jørn Olsen, Damini Jawaheer, Merete Lund Hetland, Lina Steinrud Mørch

^*Corresponding author for this work

Medicine, Rheumatology Division

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective Maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. We assessed the potential influence of both maternal and paternal RA on the risk of ASD in offspring to disentangle the influence of genetic inheritance from other conditions potentially leading to fetal programming. Method The nationwide cohort study included all children born alive from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 1,917,723). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard rate ratios (HR) of ASD in offspring exposed to maternal or paternal RA, compared to unexposed children. Results Maternal RA was associated with an approximately 30% increased risk of ASD in the offspring (HR = 1.31 and 95% CI = 1.06−1.63). Also, paternal RA seemed to increase the risk of ASD by approximately 30% (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.97−1.82). Conclusion Our findings suggest maternal as well as paternal RA to be associated with an increased risk of ASD in the offspring, indicating that genetic factors associated with RA may also play a role in the etiology of ASD in children of parents with RA.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	28-32.e1
Journal	Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume	57
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2017.10.002
State	Published - Jan 2018

Funding

We used data from various Danish national registries, which were linked by the unique identification number assigned to all citizens in Denmark. Through the Danish Medical Birth Registry, we established a nationwide cohort of all children (singletons) born alive in Denmark from 1977 to 2008, a total of 1,917,723 children. The study population and data sources are further described in a previous article. 18 The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency (Jr. no. 2016-41-4737).

Keywords

autism spectrum disorders
maternal history
offspring
parental history
rheumatoid arthritis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Developmental and Educational Psychology
Psychiatry and Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jaac.2017.10.002

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title = "Parental Rheumatoid Arthritis and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study",

abstract = "Objective Maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. We assessed the potential influence of both maternal and paternal RA on the risk of ASD in offspring to disentangle the influence of genetic inheritance from other conditions potentially leading to fetal programming. Method The nationwide cohort study included all children born alive from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 1,917,723). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard rate ratios (HR) of ASD in offspring exposed to maternal or paternal RA, compared to unexposed children. Results Maternal RA was associated with an approximately 30% increased risk of ASD in the offspring (HR = 1.31 and 95% CI = 1.06−1.63). Also, paternal RA seemed to increase the risk of ASD by approximately 30% (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.97−1.82). Conclusion Our findings suggest maternal as well as paternal RA to be associated with an increased risk of ASD in the offspring, indicating that genetic factors associated with RA may also play a role in the etiology of ASD in children of parents with RA.",

keywords = "autism spectrum disorders, maternal history, offspring, parental history, rheumatoid arthritis",

author = "Rom, {Ane Lille{\o}re} and Wu, {Chun Sen} and J{\o}rn Olsen and Damini Jawaheer and Hetland, {Merete Lund} and M{\o}rch, {Lina Steinrud}",

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doi = "10.1016/j.jaac.2017.10.002",

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T2 - A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

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AU - Wu, Chun Sen

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AU - Jawaheer, Damini

AU - Hetland, Merete Lund

AU - Mørch, Lina Steinrud

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N2 - Objective Maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. We assessed the potential influence of both maternal and paternal RA on the risk of ASD in offspring to disentangle the influence of genetic inheritance from other conditions potentially leading to fetal programming. Method The nationwide cohort study included all children born alive from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 1,917,723). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard rate ratios (HR) of ASD in offspring exposed to maternal or paternal RA, compared to unexposed children. Results Maternal RA was associated with an approximately 30% increased risk of ASD in the offspring (HR = 1.31 and 95% CI = 1.06−1.63). Also, paternal RA seemed to increase the risk of ASD by approximately 30% (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.97−1.82). Conclusion Our findings suggest maternal as well as paternal RA to be associated with an increased risk of ASD in the offspring, indicating that genetic factors associated with RA may also play a role in the etiology of ASD in children of parents with RA.

AB - Objective Maternal rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the offspring. We assessed the potential influence of both maternal and paternal RA on the risk of ASD in offspring to disentangle the influence of genetic inheritance from other conditions potentially leading to fetal programming. Method The nationwide cohort study included all children born alive from 1977 to 2008 in Denmark (N = 1,917,723). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard rate ratios (HR) of ASD in offspring exposed to maternal or paternal RA, compared to unexposed children. Results Maternal RA was associated with an approximately 30% increased risk of ASD in the offspring (HR = 1.31 and 95% CI = 1.06−1.63). Also, paternal RA seemed to increase the risk of ASD by approximately 30% (HR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.97−1.82). Conclusion Our findings suggest maternal as well as paternal RA to be associated with an increased risk of ASD in the offspring, indicating that genetic factors associated with RA may also play a role in the etiology of ASD in children of parents with RA.

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KW - maternal history

KW - offspring

KW - parental history

KW - rheumatoid arthritis

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Parental Rheumatoid Arthritis and Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study

Abstract

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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