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Association Between Gestational Weight Gain and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring: A Meta‐Analysis
Author(s) -
Su Le,
Chen Cheng,
Lu Liping,
Xiang Anny H.,
Dodds Linda,
He Ka
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1002/oby.22966
Subject(s) - offspring , medicine , weight gain , autism spectrum disorder , odds ratio , cohort study , meta analysis , pregnancy , cohort , obstetrics , case control study , relative risk , autism , pediatrics , confidence interval , psychiatry , body weight , biology , genetics
Objective This study aimed to quantitatively examine the association between gestational weight gain (GWG) and risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. Methods Electronic databases were searched for studies of excessive or inadequate GWG, as compared with recommended GWG, in relation to the risk of ASD in offspring. Measures of the association from primary studies were pooled using a meta‐analytic approach and expressed as weighted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs. Results Nine studies were identified, including 323,253 participants with 4,135 cases of ASD from five cohort studies and 1,462 cases and 3,265 controls from four case‐control studies. Evidence from cohort studies indicates that both excessive and inadequate GWG was significantly associated with a higher risk for ASD in offspring. The pooled OR of ASD was 1.10 (95% CI: 1.02‐1.18) for excessive GWG and 1.13 (95% CI: 1.04‐1.24) for inadequate GWG using recommended GWG as the reference. Evidence from case‐control studies suggests that excessive GWG (1.38 [95% CI: 1.19‐1.62]) but not inadequate GWG (0.87 [95% CI: 0.72‐1.04]) was significantly associated with a higher risk for ASD. Conclusions The accumulated evidence has supported that gaining weight outside the recommended GWG is associated with a higher risk for ASD in offspring.