Prenatal Inflammation Increases Autism Risk in Child

A new study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, has found a direct link between maternal inflammation and increased autism risk in the child.

According to the study, researchers found that children born of mothers with elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), which is responsible for inflammation, are at a higher risk of autism. The study found a 43 percent increase in the risk of autism among children born to women with CRP levels in the top 20th percentile, and an 80 percent risk for maternal CRP in the top 10th percentile.

"Elevated CRP is a signal that the body is undergoing a response to inflammation from, for example, a viral or bacterial infection," lead scientist on the study, Alan Brown, M.D., professor of clinical psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Mailman School of Public Health, according to Science Daily. "The higher the level of CRP in the mother, the greater the risk of autism in the child."

Research material for the study was collected from a unique national birth cohort known as the Finnish Maternity Cohort (FMC), which contained an archive of samples collected from pregnant women in Finland.

"Studying autism can be challenging, because symptoms may not be apparent in children until certain brain functions, such as language, come on line," said Cindy Lawler, Ph.D., head of the NIEHS Cellular, Organ, and Systems Pathobiology Branch and program lead for the Institute's extramural portfolio of autism research. "This study is remarkable, because it uses biomarker data to give us a glimpse back to a critical time in early pregnancy."

Funds for the study were provided by an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant from NIEHS, with additional support from the National Institute of Mental Health.