eprintid: 1396927 rev_number: 31 eprint_status: archive userid: 608 dir: disk0/01/39/69/27 datestamp: 2013-06-19 20:12:04 lastmod: 2021-10-05 00:46:26 status_changed: 2013-06-19 20:12:04 type: article metadata_visibility: show item_issues_count: 0 creators_name: Rai, D creators_name: Golding, J creators_name: Magnusson, C creators_name: Steer, C creators_name: Lewis, G creators_name: Dalman, C title: Prenatal and Early Life Exposure to Stressful Life Events and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Population-Based Studies in Sweden and England ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B02 divisions: C07 divisions: D79 keywords: Autistic Disorder, Cohort Studies, England, Female, Humans, Life Change Events, Maternal Exposure, Pregnancy, Stress, Psychological, Sweden note: © 2012 Rai et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. PMCID: PMC3374800 abstract: Background and Aim Exposure to stressful life events during pregnancy has been suggested as a potential risk factor for offspring Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but the literature is limited and inconsistent. We tested the hypothesis that maternal exposure to stressful life events would be associated with increased risks of offspring ASD, and that these risks would be highest for exposures during the prenatal period. Methods and Results We used prospectively collected data from two large population based studies in Sweden and England. In the Swedish study of 4429 ASD cases and 43277 controls, our exposure comprised the occurrence of any severe life event before and during pregnancy and the child's early life. In the English study (maximum n = 11554, ASD n = 72), we studied the risk of offspring ASD in relation to a combined maternal exposure to multiple (up to 42) common and rare life events, as well as their perceived impact upon the mother during pregnancy and early life. In crude and adjusted regression analyses in both studies, we found no evidence of an association between prenatal life events, or their number and perceived impact and the risk of offspring ASD. Sub-group analysis of ASD with and without intellectual disability in the Swedish study yielded similar results. Conclusion We found no evidence to support the hypotheses that exposure to stressful life events during the prenatal period is associated with an increased risk of offspring ASD. date: 2012-06-13 official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038893 vfaculties: VFBRS oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green article_type_text: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't verified: verified_manual elements_source: PubMed elements_id: 876972 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038893 pii: PONE-D-12-07092 lyricists_name: Lewis, Glyn lyricists_id: GHLEW69 full_text_status: public publication: PLoS One volume: 7 number: 6 article_number: e38893 pagerange: - event_location: United States issn: 1932-6203 citation: Rai, D; Golding, J; Magnusson, C; Steer, C; Lewis, G; Dalman, C; (2012) Prenatal and Early Life Exposure to Stressful Life Events and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Population-Based Studies in Sweden and England. PLoS One , 7 (6) , Article e38893. 10.1371/journal.pone.0038893 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038893>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1396927/1/journal.pone.0038893.pdf