Smoking and Autism: The link in pregnancy

Smoking before or during pregnancy may be associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) traits, such as symptoms of social impairments, according to a new study of approximately 11,000 children funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study also observed that full-term babies whose mothers smoked before and during pregnancy had a 44 percent increased risk of receiving an ASD diagnosis later in childhood. The research , titled “Maternal Tobacco Smoking and Offspring Autism Spectrum Disorder or Traits in ECHO Cohorts,” is published in Autism Research

Rashelle J. Musci, Ph.D. of Johns Hopkins University and Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D. of the University of California, Davis, led this collaborative effort as investigators in the NIH-funded Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program.

The research team gathered information from children in 13 ECHO cohorts across the U.S. Each cohort either collected diagnoses for ASD, administered the Social Responsiveness Scale to determine social impairments in the children, or both. All cohorts also collected data on the mothers’ prenatal smoking habits and potential confounding variables.

“Future studies can help determine the specific prenatal period at which infants are most susceptible to cigarette smoke exposure and other factors, such as lifestyle habits or paternal smoking, that may influence the child’s development,” Hertz-Picciotto said.