A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk in Offspring
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Data Sources and Searches
2.2. Study Selection
2.3. Data Extraction and Quality Assessment
2.4. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Literature Search and Selection

3.2. Study Characteristics
| Study | Location | Design a | ASD Cases/Total Participants | Age(y), Sex | Ascertainment of Smoking | Ascertainment of ASDs | OR(95%CI) | Confounding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hultman 2002 [23] | Sweden | CC | 408/2448 | <10, M&F b | Collected by midwives at registration for antenatal care | Medical record | 1.4(1.1,1.8) | Maternal age, parity, mothers’ country of birth, hypertensive diseases, diabetes, mode of delivery, pregnancy bleeding, season of birth, gestational age, birth weight for gestational age, Apgar at 5 min, congenital malformations |
| Larsson 2005 [25] | Denmark | CC | 249/6474 | ≤24, M&F | Reported at the first antenatal visit | Medical record | 1.06(0.80,1.39) | NA |
| Maimburg 2006 [28] | Denmark | CC | 473/5203 | <10, M&F | Collected by midwives at the first antenatal visit | Medical record | 0.9(0.7,1.4) | Mother and fathers age, mothers citizenship, birth weight and gestational age, Apgar, birth defect and irregular foetal position |
| Bilder 2009 [19] | US | CC | 132/13,332 | 8, M&F | NAc | Clinician review of medical and school record | 0.506(0.222,1.152) | NA |
| Larsson 2009 [26] | Sweden | C | 72/4779 | 6–8, M&F | Parent-report collected for pregnancy when child was age 1–3 years | Parent-report collected by follow-up questionnaire | 2.09(1.08,4.03) | Unadjusted |
| Burstyn 2010 [20] | Canada | C | 1138/218,890 | ≤9, M&F | Collected on admission to hospital for delivery | Medical registry record | 0.86(0.72,1.02) | Maternal age, maternal weight, maternal height, pre-pregnancy diabetes, gestational diabetes, bleeding, weight gain, parity, socio-economic status, pre-eclampsia, presentation, type of labour, delivery by caesarian section, gestational age, birth weight, apgar at 1 min, Apgar at 5 min, birth year |
| Dodds 2010 [21] | Canada | C | 924/129,733 | 1–17, M&F | Investigated by a standardized questionnaire | Administrative databases with relevant diagnostic information | 0.93(0.81,1.08) | Unadjusted |
| Haglund 2011 [22] | Sweden | CC | 157/68,964 | 8–15, M&F | Swedish Medical Birth Registry | Medical registry | 0.7(0.5,1.0) | Year of birth, maternal age at delivery, parity , sex, gestational age at birth, standard deviations scores, obstetrical risk factor |
| Kalkbrenner 2012 [24] | US | CC | 3315/633,989 | 8, M&F | Birth certificate data | Surveillance-ascertained | 0.9(0.8,1.01) | Maternal education, race and ethnicity, marital status, maternal age, county population size, birth year and surveillance site. |
| Lee 2012 [27] | Sweden | CC | 3958/42,941 | 4–17, M&F | Recorded by midwives at the first prenatal visit | Medical registry | 1.10(1.01,1.20) | Unadjusted |
| Tran 2013 [6] | Finland | CC | 4019/20,601 | ≤7, M&F | Collected by maternity clinic nurses during routine obstetric visits | Medical registry | 1.0(0.9,1.2) | Maternal age, maternal mental diagnosis, socioeconomic status and weight for gestational age |
| Nilsen 2013 [18] | Norway | C | 2072/507,856 | 3–11, M&F | Recorded by check boxes at the beginning and the end of pregnancy | Medical registry | 1.20(0.84,1.71) | Year of birth, maternal age, marital status, hospital size. |
| Norway | C | 234/89,836 | 3–11, M&F | The same as above | Medical registry | 1.17(1.04,1.31) | The same as above | |
| Mrozek-Budzyn 2013 [29] | Poland | CC | 96/288 | 2–15, M&F | Investigated by a standardized questionnaire | Medical record | 3.32(1.23,9.82) | Unadjusted |
| Xiang 2015 [30] | US | C | 643/64,924 | 1.5–2 M&F | Extracted from medical records and birth certificate records | Screened by a modified version of CHAT d and diagnosed by pediatric developmental specialist evaluation | 0.83(0.33,2.09) | Birth year |
3.3. Main Analysis

3.4. Subgroup and Sensitivity Analysis
| Variables | No. of Studies | I2% | pheterogeneity | OR(95%CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All studies | 15 | 67.3 | <0.001 | 1.02(0.93,1.13) |
| Location | ||||
| Europe | 10 | 60.1 | 0.007 | 1.11(0.99,1.24) |
| America | 5 | 0.00 | 0.671 | 0.90(0.83,0.97) |
| Design | ||||
| Cohort | 6 | 68.9 | 0.007 | 1.05(0.88,1.25) |
| Case-control | 9 | 70.0 | 0.001 | 1.01(0.88,1.15) |
| Study quality | ||||
| High | 12 | 60.4 | 0.003 | 1.02(0.92, 1.12) |
| Moderate | 3 | 83.1 | 0.003 | 1.65(0.73, 3.73) |
| Adjustment for confounders | ||||
| Yes | 9 | 69.0 | 0.001 | 1.00(0.88,1.13) |
| No/NA * | 6 | 68.2 | 0.008 | 1.08(0.89,1.32) |
3.5. Publication Bias
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplemental Material
| Case-Control Study | Definition of Cases | Representativeness of the Cases | Selection of Controls | Definition of Controls | Comparability of Cases and Control * | Ascertainment of Exposure | Same Method of Ascertainment for Cases and Controls | Non-Response Rate | Total Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hultman 2002 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Larsson 2005 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Maimburg 2006 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Bilder 2009 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Haglund 2011 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Kalkbrenner 2012 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Lee 2012 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Tran 2013 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Mrozek-Budzyn 2013 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Cohor study | Representativeness of the exposed cohort | Selection of the non exposed cohort | Ascertainment of exposure | outcome of interest was not present at start of study | Comparability of cohorts * | Assessment of outcome | follow-up long enough for outcomes to occur | Adequacy of follow up of cohorts | |
| Larsson 2009 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Burstyn 2010 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Dodds 2010 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Nilsen(1) 2013 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Nilsen(2) 2013 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Xiang 2015 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Tang, S.; Wang, Y.; Gong, X.; Wang, G. A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk in Offspring. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2015, 12, 10418-10431. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910418
Tang S, Wang Y, Gong X, Wang G. A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk in Offspring. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2015; 12(9):10418-10431. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910418
Chicago/Turabian StyleTang, Shiming, Ying Wang, Xuan Gong, and Gaohua Wang. 2015. "A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk in Offspring" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 12, no. 9: 10418-10431. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910418
APA StyleTang, S., Wang, Y., Gong, X., & Wang, G. (2015). A Meta-Analysis of Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy and Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk in Offspring. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(9), 10418-10431. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120910418
