Maternal Height in Relation to Autism Spectrum Disorders in Offspring

Background: Increased testosterone levels and hyper-masculine physical traits have consistently been identified in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, if parental risk factors such as increased testosterone are identified, then earlier prevention could be implemented.

Objectives: This project’s aim is to examine whether maternal height, as a surrogate exposure variable for maternal testosterone, has an association with risk of bearing a child with ASD.

Methods: A subset of 121 children from the MARBLES cohort was included in a crude regression model. The MARBLES cohort, established in 2006 at the UC Davis MIND Institute in Sacramento, CA, is an ongoing prospective pregnancy cohort study. The cohort population is comprised of the younger sibling in high-risk families having at least one previous child with ASD, residing within 2.5 hours driving distance of the MIND Institute. The diagnostic criteria for an outcome of ASD or typical development was derived from an algorithm including scores on Mullen Scales of Early Learning and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) assessments at 36-months of age. Maternal height (cm) was collected and verified through medical records, maternal medical abstraction forms, environmental exposure questionnaires, and food frequency questionnaires. Logistic regression was performed to estimate the association between maternal height and ASD risk.

Results: No association between maternal height and ASD risk was found (OR=1.018, 95% CI: 0.967-1.072).

Conclusions:  Crude evaluation of the relationship between maternal height and ASD did not find a link. Further analysis will be conducted to adjust for possible confounding and verify this lack of association. In addition, future work includes determining the validity of using maternal height as a surrogate variable for maternal testosterone by comparing height with measured testosterone, and studying the relationship between gestational testosterone concentrations and the child’s ASD risk.