ArticlePediatrics2013
Maternal prenatal weight gain and autism spectrum disorders.
Article in Pediatrics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of parental overweight and obesity on offspring's mental health: A meta-analysis of observational studies.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Early environmental risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders - a systematic review of twin and sibling studies.Development and psychopathology · 2021Pooled it
- Association Between Gestational Weight Gain and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring: A Meta-Analysis.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Maternal excessive gestational weight gain as a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder in offspring: a systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Pooled it
- Maternal polycystic ovarian syndrome in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and child neurodevelopmental outcomes: a meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2018Pooled it
- Association Between Maternal Obesity and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Offspring: A Meta-analysis.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2016Pooled it
- A Review of the Effects of Maternal and Paternal Obesity on Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Related Neurobiology in Rodent and Human Offspring.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Review
- Advancing understanding of the mechanisms of autism spectrum disorder through perinatal risk factors.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- Article
- Prenatal ozone exposure and risk of intellectual disability.Journal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2026Article
- Proximity of Maternal Time of Immigration to Child's Birth Is Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorder With Early Learning Delay Among Immigrant Populations in the United States: Findings From the Study to Explore Early Development.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025Article
- Article
- Maternal Obesity and Neurodevelopment of the Offspring.Nutrients · 2025Review
- The role of nutrition and gut microbiome in childhood brain development and behavior.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Review
- PMJournal of exposure science & environmental epidemiology · 2024Article
- The impact of excessive maternal weight on the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders in offspring-a narrative review of clinical studies.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2024Review
- Racial and ethnic disparities in the co-occurrence of intellectual disability and autism: Impact of incorporating measures of adaptive functioning.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2024Article
- Is the association between mothers' autistic traits and childhood autistic traits moderated by maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index?Molecular autism · 2023Article
- Sex-specific and sex-independent steroid-related biomarkers in early second trimester maternal serum associated with autism.Molecular autism · 2023Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe rising population of individuals identified with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) calls for further investigation of its underlying etiology. A disturbance in the fetal steroid hormone environment may be a mechanism in which environmental and genetic risk factors interact. The mother, fetus, and placenta collectively create the fetal steroid environment. Prepregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain have served as markers for fetal steroid hormone exposure in other disease states. This study's objective is to determine whether prepregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain are associated with increased ASD risk across study designs and cohorts while controlling for important confounding variables.
methodsA population-based Utah ASD cohort (n = 128) was ascertained in a 3-county surveillance area and gender- and age-matched to 10,920 control subjects. A second, research-based ASD cohort of Utah children (n = 288) and their unaffected siblings (n = 493) were ascertained through participation in an ASD genetics study. Prenatal variables were obtained from birth certificate records.
resultsASD risk was significantly associated with pregnancy weight gain (adjusted odds ratio = 1.10, 95% confidence interval: 1.03 to 1.17; adjusted odds ratio = 1.17, 95% confidence interval: 1.01 to 1.35 for each 5 pounds of weight gained), but not prepregnancy BMI, in population and research-based cohorts, respectively. When analyses were restricted to ASD cases with normal IQ, these associations remained significant.
conclusionsASD risk associated with a modest yet consistent increase in pregnancy weight gain suggests that pregnancy weight gain may serve as an important marker for autism's underlying gestational etiology. This justifies an investigation into phenomena that link pregnancy weight gain and ASD independent of prepregnancy BMI.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.