Autism with Intellectual Disability Related to Dynamics of Head Circumference Growth during Early Infancy

作者：McKeague Ian W; Brown Alan S; Bao Yuanyuan; Hinkka Yli Salomaki Susanna; Huttunen Jukka; Sourander Andre^*

来源：Biological Psychiatry, 2015, 77(9): 833-840.

DOI：10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.08.008

• Autism
• Development
• Epidemiology
• Growth Velocity
• Head Circumference
• Trajectories

BACKGROUND: It is not yet definitively known whether dynamic features of head circumference growth are associated with autism. To address this issue, we carried out a nested matched case-control study using data from national well baby clinics in Finland; autism cases were identified from the Finnish Hospital and Outpatient Discharge Registry.
METHODS: A nonparametric Bayesian method was used to construct growth velocity trajectories between birth and 2 years of age in autism cases and matched control subjects (n = 468 in main analyses, 1:1 matched control subjects). Estimates of odds ratios for autism risk in relation to the growth velocities were obtained using conditional logistic regression.
RESULTS: Growth velocity of head circumference at 3 months of age, adjusting for gestational age at birth and maternal age, is significantly associated with autism (p = .014); the finding was observed in subjects with comorbid intellectual disability (ID) (p = .025) but not in those without ID (p = .15). Height growth velocity among subjects with autism and without ID is significantly associated with autism at 6 months (p = .007), and weight growth velocity at 18 months without ID (p = .02) and 24 months without ID (p = .042) and with ID (p = .037).
CONCLUSIONS: Acceleration in head circumference growth is associated with autism with comorbid ID at 3 months but not subsequently. This association is unrelated to acceleration in height and weight, which are not strongly associated with autism until after 6 months.

• 出版日期2015-5-1