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Prenatal and Neonatal Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Levels and Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Abstract

Thyroid hormones are critical for normal brain development. This study examined autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels measured in mid-pregnancy maternal serum and infant blood after birth. Three groups of children born in Orange County, CA in 2000–2001were identified: ASD (n = 78), developmental delay (n = 45), and general population controls (GP) (n = 149). Samples were retrieved from prenatal and newborn screening specimen archives. Adjusted logistic regression models showed inverse associations between ASD and log transformed TSH levels in maternal serum samples (ASD vs. GP: OR [95 % CI] 0.33 [0.12–0.91], Early Onset ASD vs. GP: 0.31 [0.10–0.98]). Results for thyroid levels in newborn blood samples were similar though not significant (ASD vs. GP: 0.61 [0.18–2.04]).

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH72565, L. Croen, PI), the National Alliance for Autism Research (824/LC/01-201-004-00-00, L. Croen, PI), and the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (8RT-0115, M. Kharrazi, PI). We thank Jack Collins, Roxana Odouli and Tiffany Wong for project coordination; Julie Ruedaflores for record review and abstraction; Meredith Anderson and Daniel Najjar for assistance with data management and analysis; and Steve Graham and Debbie Hildebrandt for record linkage and specimen retrieval.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Autism Research Program, Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA, 94612, USA

    Vincent M. Yau, Marta Lutsky, Cathleen K. Yoshida & Lisa A. Croen

  2. Center for Health and the Environment, University of California Davis, One Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Bill Lasley & Nancy Gee

  3. Genetic Disease Screening Program, California Department of Public Health, 850 Marina Bay Pkwy, Richmond, CA, USA

    Martin Kharrazi

  4. Division of Environmental and Occupational Disease Control, California Department of Public Health, 850 Marina Bay Pkwy, Bldg. P, Richmond, CA, 94804, USA

    Gayle Windham

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  1. Vincent M. Yau
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  2. Marta Lutsky
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  3. Cathleen K. Yoshida
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Correspondence to Lisa A. Croen.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 6 and 7.

Table 6 Arithmetic mean TSH concentrations (ng/mL) by Demographic and Diagnostic Group
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Table 7 Odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals for ASD associated with log10-transformed maternal and newborn TSH concentrations, the EMA study
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Yau, V.M., Lutsky, M., Yoshida, C.K. et al. Prenatal and Neonatal Thyroid Stimulating Hormone Levels and Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 719–730 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2227-2

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