ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2014
Maternal intake of supplemental iron and risk of autism spectrum disorder.
Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
85 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 184 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of intravenous iron supplementation compared to oral iron supplementation during pregnancy on neonatal outcomes-a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
- Maternal iron status in early pregnancy and DNA methylation in offspring: an epigenome-wide meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2022Pooled it
- Maternal Dietary Factors and the Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review of Existing Evidence.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2020Pooled it
- Preconception and Prenatal Nutrition and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2019Pooled it
- Maternal smoking and autism spectrum disorder: meta-analysis with population smoking metrics as moderators.Scientific reports · 2017Pooled it
- Prenatal iron supplementation adjusted to maternal iron stores reduces behavioural problems in 4-year-old children.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Trial
- Postnatal Iron Supplementation Fails to Fully Rescue Brain Metal and Transcriptional Defects Caused by Nutrition-Based Gestational Iron Deficiency.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Iron Deficiency Impairs Mitochondrial Energetics and Early Axonal Growth and Branching in Developing Hippocampal Neurons.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Prenatal and birth factors associated with child autism diagnosis: a birth cohort perspective.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Maternal Prenatal Supplements Intake and Dietary Sources and Their Relation to Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Population of Bangladesh.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Dysfunctional connectivity within hippocampal and entorhinal networks underlies early-life iron deficiency induced social recognition deficits, a preliminary study.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Association between historical lead exposure, population density, and autism prevalence: a county-level ecological study in Norway.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Co-exposure to lead and cadmium is associated with increased severity of social deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Human brain R2* transitions across birth from the womb to early infancy.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Iron Deficiency Impairs Mitochondrial Energetics and Early Axonal Growth and Branching in Developing Hippocampal Neurons.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Association between maternal anemia and cord blood hemoglobin and ferritin concentrations in newborns: a Single-center study in Turkey.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Evaluating general practitioners' knowledge and attitude of autism spectrum disorder and influencing factors at Gondar University Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Maternal Prenatal Psychological Stress and Iron Levels in the Fetal Brain.Developmental psychobiology · 2025Article
- The Critical Role of Iron in Pregnancy, Puerperium, and Fetal Development.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Iron mother- protocol for a randomised controlled trial of daily versus alternate day ferrous fumarate for the treatment of iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2025Article
25 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
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Iron deficiency affects 40%-50% of pregnancies. Iron is critical for early neurodevelopmental processes that are dysregulated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We examined maternal iron intake in relation to ASD risk in California-born children enrolled in a population-based case-control study (the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study) from 2003 to 2009 with a diagnosis of ASD (n = 520) or typical development (n = 346) that was clinically confirmed using standardized assessments. Mean maternal daily iron intake was quantified on the basis of frequency, dose, and brands of supplements and cereals consumed each month from 3 months before pregnancy through the end of pregnancy and during breastfeeding (the index period), as reported in parental interviews. Mothers of cases were less likely to report taking iron-specific supplements during the index period (adjusted odds ratio = 0.63, 95% confidence interval: 0.44, 0.91), and they had a lower mean daily iron intake (51.7 (standard deviation, 34.0) mg/day) than mothers of controls (57.1 (standard deviation, 36.6) mg/day; P = 0.03). The highest quintile of iron intake during the index period was associated with reduced ASD risk compared with the lowest (adjusted odds ratio = 0.49, 95% confidence interval: 0.29, 0.82), especially during breastfeeding. Low iron intake significantly interacted with advanced maternal age and metabolic conditions; combined exposures were associated with a 5-fold increased ASD risk. Further studies of this link between maternal supplemental iron and ASD are needed to inform ASD prevention strategies.
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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.