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The association between newborn screening analytes and childhood autism in a Texas Medicaid population, 2010–2012
Author(s) -
Canfield Mark A.,
Langlois Peter H.,
Rutenberg Gary W.,
Mandell Dorothy J.,
Hua Fei,
Reilly Brendan,
Ruktachai Duke J.,
Jackson Janice F.,
Hunt Patricia,
Freedenberg Debra,
Lee Rachel,
Villanacci John F.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part b: neuropsychiatric genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.393
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1552-485X
pISSN - 1552-4841
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.b.32728
Subject(s) - autism , association (psychology) , medicaid , medicine , population , psychiatry , psychology , pediatrics , environmental health , political science , psychotherapist , health care , law
Autism (or autism spectrum disorder [ASD]) is an often disabling childhood neurologic condition of mostly unknown cause. It is commonly diagnosed at 3 or 4 years of age. We explored whether there was an association of any analytes measured by newborn screening tests with a later diagnosis of ASD. A database was compiled of 3–5 year‐old patients with any ASD diagnosis in the Texas Medicaid system in 2010–2012. Two controls (without any ASD diagnosis) were matched to each case by infant sex and birth year/month. All study subjects were linked to their 2007–2009 birth and newborn screening laboratory records, including values for 36 analytes or analyte ratios. We examined the association of analytes/ratios with a later diagnosis of ASD. Among 3,258 cases and 6,838 controls, seven analytes (e.g., 17‐hydroxyprogesterone, acylcarnitines) were associated with a later ASD diagnosis. In this exploratory study, an ASD diagnosis was associated with 7 of 36 newborn screening analytes/ratios. These findings should be replicated in other population‐based datasets.