23458
Maternal Race-Ethnicity, Immigrant Status, Country of Birth, and the Odds of a Child with Autism
The risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) varies by maternal race-ethnicity, immigration status and birth region.
Objectives:
We aimed to estimate the odds of ASD with intellectual disability (ID) in the children of women by maternal race-ethnicity, immigration status and birth region whilst adjusting for maternal age, parity, socio-economic status, and birth year of the child.
Methods:
In this retrospective cohort study, Western Australian state registries and a study population of 134,204 mothers enabled us to examine the odds of ASD with intellectual disability (ID) in children born from 1994-2005, by maternal race-ethnicity, immigration status and birth region whilst adjusting for the traits described previously.
Results:
Indigenous women were 50% less likely to have a child with ASD with ID than Caucasian, non-immigrant women. Overall, immigrant women were 40% less likely to have a child with ASD with ID than non-immigrant women. However, Black women from East Africa had more than three and a half times the odds of ASD with ID in their children than Caucasian non-immigrant women.
Conclusions:
Research is implicated on risk and protective factors for ASD with ID in the children of immigrant women.
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